In the bottom of the 7th inning, there were no Colorado Rockies fans expecting good results.
Tommy Kahnle had just walked his fourth batter of the inning, only escaping a run because he was able to get Pedro Ciriaco to ground into a double play when Nolan Arenado grabbed the grounder, touched his bag then went to DJ LeMahieu covering second to compete an unconventional double play.
Kahnle escaped trouble, but then walked Nick Markakis and and Nick Swisher to load the bases. With the Rockies up 4-1, the results seemed inevitable. Certified Rockies-killer Freddie Freeman came to the plate, looking to break open the Braves offense and steal the momentum. The Rockies countered by going to lefty Christian Friedrich. On a 3-2 pitch with the runners moving, Freeman struck out on a Friedrich 88 MPH slider.
Frankly, it was the most unpredictable thing the Rockies have accomplished since Chris Rusin notched a complete-game shutout nine days ago.
Thanks in large part to Arenado doing his thing at third base, the Rockies escaped the jam. It was something that is extremely unfamiliar in a season that most will be hoping to remove from their memory as quickly as possible.
Tuesday marked the return of Chad Bettis to the mound. He was impressive during parts of his outing, but still left a few question marks. He was able to get outs, but his efficiency wasn’t very good. Through the first three innings, Bettis had thrown nearly as many balls as he had thrown strikes. He was able to keep the Braves from scoring, but it was clear he wasn’t going to stick around the game very long, a terrible sign for a Rockies team depending on the worst bullpen the league has seen in years.
The Rockies ultimate quest for the remainder of 2015 becomes keeping the loss total under 100 for the season. It would be the first time in franchise history that the Rockies had lost 100, so staying above that level has some significance. Even though losing 99 really isn’t that much different, the dubious distinction of losing more than 100 games isn’t fun for anyone.
After picking up their 50th win on the season on Tuesday, the Rockies must win 13 more games to avoid the 100 loss mark. The can only afford to lose 25 more games.
It seems like the Rockies should be able to win 13 more contests, but with their bullpen the way it has been, and their starting pitchers not going deep into the game, their chances of winning are not very good. It nearly takes a miracle for the team to win like they did on Tuesday night, scoring only five runs. Essentially, the Rockies need to score seven or eight runs on any given night just to be in the game.
To avoid 100 losses, the Rockies are going to need a few great starts from some of their younger pitchers. They are going to have to get some quality appearances from Bettis, Jon Gray, Rusin and Yohan Flande. The latter aren’t very young, but their big league experience still qualifies them for that shaky proposition.
Jorge De La Rosa is almost certainly good for another three wins, whether he is the pitcher or record or not for those games. So the Rockies would need to piece together another 10 wins from the other four starters. Gray has shown that he can command a game and get the team through six innings, but with his limited pitch count, he simply leaves too many innings for the bullpen to eat up. That rarely ends well.
The Rockies will likely pull off 13 more wins. They will avoid the embarrassing triple digit loss mark. However, reality still needs to strike for this bunch. The Rockies have consistently been one of the worst teams in baseball for the past five seasons. That shouldn’t be acceptable.
The Rockies don’t necessarily need to make wholesale changes, but they certainly should reevaluate everything that they do internally. What has gone on at the big league level shouldn’t be acceptable, and it has gone on for far too long.
