The Colorado Rockies are hovering this season. They are hovering around the .500 mark and alternating between looking like a playoff contender and a team that won’t hit enough to finish higher than fourth in the division. Right now we’re on the unpleasant side of that seesaw, with a helpless offense leading to a 4-1 loss to the Miami Marlins on Saturday night.
Wei-Yin Chen dominates. So does the Miami bullpen.
In his first start of the 2018 season, Chen had the Rockies baffled for most of his 5.1 innings of work. He gave up a home run to Charlie Blackmon and then exited after he created a bit of a pickle in that same sixth inning. His mates in the bullpen picked him that inning and took it the rest of the way as the Rockies’ offense was punchless once again.
Germán Márquez had a weird night
Quality start alert! Márquez was all over the place for the first few innings of this one, and it looked like it would be an early exit. He escaped a bases loaded jam in the fourth inning by getting a double-play ball and then rebounded to give the Rockies six respectable innings. All told it ended up being a solid start, even if it didn’t feel that way early on and it eventually resulted in a loss.
So about the Rockies offense
They have two runs in two games down in Miami against the Marlins and their 8-18 record. Antonio Senzatela drove in one of those runs. April is too soon to panic, but the Rockies should at least be getting nervous about this lineup. Hopefully they show a willingness to adapt and shake things up before their inability to score runs results in a big losing streak.
Looking ahead
The Rockies will try to win the rubber game on Sunday with Chad Bettis on the mound against Caleb Smith.