Rockies split doubleheader in return of Kris Bryant; Bud Black discusses impact of new rules

With the Colorado Rockies having lost 10 of their last 13 games following the game one loss during a doubleheader with the New York Mets, it seemed like that 15-11 start to the season was a mirage of sorts. 

Kris Bryant made his return to starting lineup on Saturday for the first time since April 25 when a back strain placed him on the injured list for 21 games, going 1-for-4 with a single before sitting out the second game of the twin bill. 

During those three-plus weeks away from the Rockies, his team went 8-13; with him in the lineup, they were 10-6 before Saturday’s 5-1 loss to the Mets. 

“I’ve seen getting mad, pressing the panic button and I just feel like none of that really ever works. It just doesn’t,” Bryant said of responding to a prolonged stretch of losing, which included five of seven games at home. “It just compounds things.”

An emphatic 11-3 win in Game Two against New York put Colorado at 19-20, good for the eighth-best record in the NL and 3.5 games back of the third and final Wild Card spot. Regardless, over four months of baseball remain.

“There’s just way too many games in this sport to completely change your approach to each game,” Bryant offered. “Certainly there’s a time where you’ve got to kind of maybe press the panic button or maybe get a little pissed off.”

When the Chicago Cubs won the World Series in 2016, they got off to a scorching start of 25-6. They also went 12-14 in the month of July. The next season, they were under .500 on June 1, yet still managed to win the NL Central.

“I think you go through the ups and downs in the seasons and me being on the IL for a little bit, I kind of saw the ups and the downs,” he explained. “And I’ve been there too. You think it’s way worse than it is and you just finally get out of it.”

Black breaks down the new rules

When Bryant was rehabilitating with the Triple-A Albuquerque Isotopes in Salt Lake City, he got to experience several new rules recently introduced to the minor leagues.

The larger, flatter bases turned up a positive response, while the pitch clock was met with less enthusiasm.

“There would be a lot of confrontation,” Bryant said of the quickness with which some at-bats lasted, especially those of the three-pitch variety.

Baseball American reported that this pitch clock has reduced minor league games by 24 minutes , a reduction of 13.4% in game time. 

Manager Bud Black sounded more favorable of a rule change that would require pitchers to make an offering to the batter within 14 seconds (18-19 seconds with a runner on base) or else an automatic ball would be called.

“I think hitters will make adjustments,” Black said of challenges facing those in the batter’s box. “I think that’s gonna be a good thing. I think in the end game, I think that’s going to be a positive. Hitters will learn to adjust like pitchers have adjusted, too.”

As for a rule actually implemented at the MLB level this season, the universal DH has been welcomed by Black. 

“I think it’s good for the game because I think the pitching has gotten so good – with velocity and stuff – that the pitchers (as hitters) were becoming a non factor,” Black detailed. “It didn’t make sense, for me, in the best interests of the game to have a pitcher facing a 98 mph fastball with a slider in two or three or four at bats.”

Black, who’s managed in the NL with the Rockies and San Diego Padres for parts of 15 seasons, does miss being able to make the double-switches and late pinch-hit appearances typical of the Senior Circuit pre-2022.

The Rockies have used their DH spot as expected or at least according to how they indicated during Spring Training when it was made clear that senior-most position player, Charlie Blackmon, would not be entrenched in that role.

“We were going to try to spread those out to get everybody involved and also get guys off their feet,” Black explained. “And I think that makes the most sense. That’s the most practical. I think that’s good for our team to be able to do that.”

Colorado has featured six different players as their designated hitter with Connor Joe (16), Blackmon (11) and C.J. Cron (6) leading the way. Before Bryant’s IL stint, he enjoyed three days off his feet in that role as well. 

Diamond Details

• Brian Serven recorded his first base hit – a home run – in game two, becoming just the 10th player in Rockies’ history to homer for his first hit. He followed that up with his second home run of his young career, joining Trevor Story as the only players to homer in each of his first two hits.

• Even more rare for Serven was the fact that both long balls were two-run shots, making him the first in baseball history with two multi-run homers in the same game for his first two hits.
• The Rockies streak of 84 games scoring two or more runs at home dating back to May 12, 2021 came to an end with their loss in the first game of Saturday’s doubleheader. The streak is the longest in NL history and tied for the second-longest since 1900, trailing only the 1948-49 Boston Red Sox (88 games) and matching the 2000-01 Texas Rangers (84 games).
• Game one starter Germán Márquez tossed six innings for the third game in a row, but dropped to 1-4 on the year with the second-worst earned run average (6.14) in MLB. On the bright side, he matched a season-high seven strikeouts to pass Jon Gray for second all-time in franchise history.
• C.J. Cron stroked his NL-leading 11th home run in the second game of the doubleheader. He now has 39 homers through his first 180 games with Colorado, tying him with Trevor Story for the fourth-most by a Rockies player through their first 180 games with the club.