DENVER – It won’t come as a shock to any regular viewers of Colorado Rockies baseball that seven of their last 10 losses have come—broadly speaking—at the hands of bullpens implosions. In each of those games, the Rockies held a lead going into the sixth inning or later.
No man has been free from the struggle, with normally reliable closer Wade Davis capping off the series against the Reds with one of the most frustrating outings yet; unleashing two wild pitches in route to a blown save and a 7-5 loss.
You could see some signs that manager Bud Black was starting to feel his options becoming more limited on the Rockies previous road trip out west. On that venture, lefty Jake McGee, who himself hasn’t exactly been lights out this year (currently sporting a 4.76 ERA) was asked to pick up multiple innings on two separate occasions.
This was notable because it was the first (and second) time he had been asked to do so since August 2014.
“It felt really good,” he told BSN Denver afterward. “It just kinda worked out. I think I threw seven pitches the first inning and then tonight I threw six or seven pitches in the first inning so I’ll go back out and throw a second inning because a lot of hitters have been swinging really early on me lately.”
McGee is working in his eighth MLB campaign and is no stranger to the trials and tribulations that come with a long season. And as hard as it has been to watch lately, he has faith it will turn around for this Rockies group.
“It’s just kinda… you’ve gotta trust your stuff and know in the bullpen, you’re going to have your rough outings, you’re gonna have rough patches. There are times where you’re going to give up runs, but then you’re going to go on streaks when you’re going to throw a lot more and kinda get going. Being consistent is a big thing.”
Specifically singling out lefty Chris Rusin, who was one of the most reliable relievers in baseball a year ago, McGee says: “He’s on the right track and he’s gonna be fine.”
Call him an optimist or a painter of silver linings if you like, McGee is also a seasoned veteran of the game of baseball who has pitched on his fair share of postseason teams and he is well aware that, as frustrating as it may be for all involved, if this collection of pitchers can get closer to their career numbers, they just might find themselves at exactly the right time.
“Everyone has bad patches here and there,” he says. “We’d rather have our bad patches now and figure it out and be our old selves the last two months, when we really need to do it. We don’t, obviously, want to lose games now, but we want to be the best we can be the last month or two.”
Arguably the most famous single season of relief pitching in Rockies history was Huston Street’s 2009 campaign where he only blew two saves all season then proceeded to blow two in one series. That series was the NLDS.
As McGee says, nobody is purposefully trying to create the exact opposite effect, but baseball has proven with 150 years worth of data, that perfection is impossible. So, there’s something to be said for getting those imperfections out of the way in May and June with hopes they lie dormant in September and October.
