Rockies-Pirates Series Grades: Big bats falter in another loss

Your Colorado Rockies were oh so close to getting a much-needed home series win against the Pittsburgh Pirates but just fell short in the big moments in the decisive rubber match.

Scoring seven runs in the three games, this wasn’t the Rockies’ best series offensively as the big bats in the lineup fell short.

As we do after each series, using our advanced statistics and our in-house all-encompassing metric DPR, here are our individual grades.

Note: The scores below are each player’s average DPR for the series. All Rockies stats and individual player profiles can be found here.

Trevor Story (70.90 — B): Story hit consistently in the series with a single in each game but only one extra-base hit—a double in game three. His best outing was the rubber game where he got two hits and struck out once.

Nolan Arenado (54.29 — C-): Nolan scored two runs in the three games against Pittsburgh. He also had two hits with a double and a strikeout out in a ho-hum series. His biggest moment came in game three with a fielding error that ultimately cost Colorado big time.

Charlie Blackmon (59.70 — C): Sitting out game one, Blackmon was consistent in the final two games, with four singles and two strikeouts while being caught stealing in game three.

The big bats for Colorado managed only two extra-base hits in the series, a recipe that won’t lead to many wins.

David Dahl (77.01 — B+): Dahl was crucial for Colorado, raking in each game and raising his average, OBP, and slugging percentage. His best outing came in game three with a big two-RBI jack and a walk. He was also consistent in all three games with four hits on 13 plate appearances. His one negative note was striking out twice but overall a great showing as he’s making a strong case to be an outfield regular with a series like this.

Carlos Gonzalez (39.86 — D-): CarGo started twice in the series then appearing in a pinch-hit at-bat in game three where he struck out. Gonzalez’s best game was in game two where he came up with a two-RBI double, his only hit in the series as he struck out twice.

Ian Desmond (26.88 — F): After a terrific July in which Desmond averaged a 73.26 DPR, his numbers have fallen off a cliff in early August as he’s averaging a pitiful 40.97 for the month with one extra-base hit in 25 ABs. He only started game one and appeared in two pinch-hit opportunities in the rest of the series striking out twice with little else to show.

DJ Lemahieu (54.83 — C-): DJ was at least consistent, if unspectacular, getting a single in each game and scoring two runs while striking out once on the series. He had a defensive error as well in game two which didn’t help his cause.

We’re still waiting for him to be more of an offensive factor since he returned from injury.

Ryan McMahon (89.61 — A): McMahon was awesome in his two starts, getting four hits and a walk in eight plate appearances, while only striking out once. The veteran bats better watch out, as the two young guns McMahon and Dahl are starting to really come around.

Gerardo Parra (40.96 — D): Parra grounded into a fielders choice in game one which gave him an RBI in the close affair. His only other noteworthy stat in his series was a walk in game three, not enough for a solid regular.

Chris Iannetta (30.30 — F): Iannetta’s struggled immensely lately; he hasn’t had an extra-base hit since July 4th and has only managed three singles since then. His series against the Pirates followed that trend as he had a crucial sac-fly RBI in game one and a single in game two. Still, he didn’t walk once, his saving grace offensively this season, and went 1-for-7 in the series while grounding into two double plays in game two.

Tony Wolters (45.37 — D+): Wolters’ one start in game three wasn’t anything to write home about, as he managed to walk once and little else, resulting in a negative WPA.

Kyle Freeland (87.60 — A): Freeland got back to his old ways after a few atypical outings for the standards he’s set this season. In game one he was awesome, shutting the Pirates down for seven innings. His 75 game score was actually his highest of the season as his ERA’s now down to 3.04, the lowest it has been all year.

Interestingly, Freeland’s more conventional stats weren’t mind-blowing, as he had a 5:3 K to walk ratio and an 8:9 ground ball to fly ball ratio. With a FIP of 3.45, he got the job done earning his high grade in a crucial win.

Chad Bettis (16.45 — F): In his first outing in over a month, Bettis had his worst performance of 2018, allowing nine runs in 4.2 innings off of eight hits while walking two. The Pirates also went yard on him twice as his ground ball to fly ball ratio was way off.

German Marquez (62.97 — C+): Marquez started off slow but then got on a roll and had a nice outing despite allowing 10 hits in six innings in a somewhat unlucky game. He had his stuff as he struck out 10 and dominated the Pirates lineup at times, striking out the side on nine pitches in the fourth inning. Marquez was able to pound the strike zone while his FIP was a season-low 0.83.  That said, he got the loss allowing three runs in the rubber match of the series.

Wade Davis (96.35 — ⭐): Davis had a nice bounce-back after a terrible blown save against the Brewers in his last outing. Against Pittsburgh, he came in for the game one save and was superb  as he struck out two and induced a ground ball out while throwing 10 of 14 pitches for strikes.

Adam Ottavino(46.95 — D+): Otto’s last two outings haven’t been up to his usual standards, as he allowed a run in the eighth inning of the rubber match which ultimately cost the Rockies a chance to tie things up—interesting note, that run came off of a Corey Dickerson sac fly, who’s been one of the best hitters in the NL this year. With a 69.10 DPR, he’s been close to identical to Story and Blackmon.

Otto struggled to find the strike zone, walking two and allowing that crucial fly ball while inducing four ground balls the rest of the inning. His 9.16 FIP was his fourth-highest of the season.

Seunghwan Oh  (77.45 — B+): Oh’s 72.77 DPR since arriving in the Mile High City’s been great—improving on the 67.93 average he had while he was in Toronto. More impressive, he’s been utilized quite a bit for the Rockies and the series against the Pirates saw that trend continue as he was the only reliever to appear in multiple games.

Oh had a 1:1 strikeout to walk ratio and a 1:4 ground ball to fly ball ratio in the series, which aren’t terrific, but still got the job done in his two appearances as he got out of both games unscathed.

Bryan Shaw (74.66 — B): Quietly, in a meaningless appearance in the game two blow out, Shaw continued his solid run in the month of August allowing a hit but getting out cleanly in a scoreless outing.

Jake McGee (44.12 —D): McGee’s been drastically inconsistent lately, alternating great outings of lights-out baseball with poor showings, game two was the latter. While he pounded the strike zone—72 percent of his pitches were strikes—he allowed a homer in 1.1 innings with a FIP of 11.43 in his one appearance.

Harrison Musgrave (90.68 — A+): Musgrave was solid in game three, throwing 11 of his 13 pitches for strikes while getting a strikeout and posting a 1.16 FIP in one inning.

Yency Almonte (98.63 — ⭐): Almonte came into game two when things were already out of hand, but his outing was pretty impressive. In two innings, the Miami native struck out four and induced two ground ball outs, taking his ERA down to 1.00. He pounded the strike zone in throwing 25 of his 35 pitches for strikes.