Sim Rockies pitching continues to struggle, despite a flurry of roster moves on Thursday

The Sim Rockies have been struggling as of late, just finishing their worst stretch on the season. They lost ten straight and were finally able to stop the bleeding on Sunday, beating the Sim Marlins 3-2. Back-to-back four game sweeps at the hands of the Reds and Giants made for an 0-8 homestand and two more losses made for a 1-10 record in the last three series.

The pitching continues to struggle, as the Rockies only have two pitchers with ERA’s under 4.00 (Kyle Freeland and Tyler Kinley). If you include pitchers with ERA’s under 5.00, that adds Tim Collins (4.15), Carlos Estévez (4.32), and James Pazos (4.30).

Hitting hasn’t been great either, as Nolan Arenado is the only hitter with an average above .300. Charlie Blackmon is almost there at .298 and Elias Díaz is hitting .288 (in 59 at-bats), but everyone else is hitting below .280.

Following the 14-6 loss (and second of back-to-back sweeps) at the hands of the Sim Giants, the Sim Rockies made a flurry of roster moves:

In 2018, it was Jon Gray who got sent to Albuquerque. In 2019, it was Kyle Freeland. In Sim 2020, it’s Germán Márquez. Márquez got rocked for seven runs on six hits in his last outing, which resulted in a ghastly 7.94 ERA and a trip down I-25 to Isotopes Park. Gray hasn’t looked spectacular either, with an ugly 5.36 ERA staring him in the face. Hopefully he won’t have to follow Márquez to Albuquerque again.

Ryan Castellani made his debut this week, in which he also got knocked around for six runs in 2 ¹⁄₃ innings at Marlins Park. Hopefully that was just a fluke and he will look better in his next start.

With the win yesterday against the Sim Marlins, hopefully the Sim Rockies can turn things around. Márquez’ one-hitter last year stopped the eight game losing streak (and losing 12 out of 13 games) and started a new five game winning streak. The win yesterday wasn’t quite as remarkable (five hits and one run off of Kyle Freeland), but hopefully it starts a similar winning streak!

★ ★ ★

The Sim Rockies have today off but head to Chicago for a second two-game set against the White Sox. They then return home for a three-game set against the Phillies over the weekend. As a reminder, we will definitely broadcast Tuesday’s and Friday’s games and will only broadcast subsequent games if the Rockies are going for the sweep. Follow along on Ben Kouchnerkavich’s YouTube channel for all the Sim Rockies action!