Series Preview: Rockies at Pirates

The Rockies are good. They lead a tough National League West. Heck, they have the best record in the National League. They’re 8-2 in June and won seven in a row — including five on the road — before losing to the Cubs, 7-5, on Sunday.

The Pirates (28-35) won their last two to manage a split with the Marlins.

Schedule

Monday, 7:05 p.m. - Kyle Freeland (7-3, 3.34 ERA) vs. Jameson Taillon (2-1, 3.31), TV: Root

Tuesday, 7:05 p.m. - Tyler Chatwood (6-7, 4.37) vs. Gerrit Cole (3-6, 4.83), TV: Root

Wednesday, 7:05 p.m. - German Marquez (4-3, 4.44) vs. Chad Kuhl (1-5, 5.63), TV: Root

Rockies

41-24 (39-26 Pythag, 5.26 RS/G, 4.18 RA/G)

Offense

Charlie Blackmon (.338/.384/.635, 2.7 fWAR) and Nolan Arenado (.287/.348/.559, 2.3 fWAR) are well known and have been excellent, as expected. The lines from guys like Mark Reynolds (.309/.386/.581, 17 HR), Tony Wolters (.304/.414/.366) and Gerardo Parra (.318/.348/.480), though, are probably better than expected, even for Coors Field. Trevor Story might be a little too fly-ball happy, and has fallen back.

Pitching

Rockies pitchers have been the seventh-best unit in MLB, with 8.5 fWAR. It’s a staff-wide effort, too, with the starters sitting eighth in the majors as a group and the relievers seventh, respectively. Jeff Hoffman (in a small sample) and Antonio Senzatela have been Colorado’s best starters, and the Pirates will miss them this week. Twenty-two-year-old German Marquez has posted a 22.6 percent strikeout rate. Kyle Freeland has posted a 3.34 ERA, but doesn’t quite have the underlying numbers to back that up. Jake McGee, Greg Holland and Mike Dunn all have strikeout rates above 30 percent in the bullpen.

Outlook

Not good. Jameson Taillon’s return will be awesome to see. The Rockies have been unstoppable, though, and aren’t quite what the doctor ordered for struggling Gerrit Cole and Chad Kuhl. It’s baseball, though.