The Colorado Rockies have fallen out of first place in the NL West after dropping a pair of games at Coors Field to the Seattle Mariners. In each of those losses, the starting pitcher struggled with command.
In Tuesday’s 10-4 loss, Tyler Anderson surrendered six runs on 11 hits over five innings. The day prior, Tyler Chatwood also gave up six runs, but could not complete five.
“I think a big part of our success this year has been the starting pitching,” Rockies manager Bud Black said in Tuesday’s postgame press conference. “These two games back to back, we have not starting pitched well. And that’s the big reason why we’ve lost these two games.”
About Anderson’s performance on Tuesday, he was straightforward. The lefty simply left too many pitches up in the strike zone.
“Too much stuff, well, up in the strike zone. I think the goal is to throw in the strike zone to get strikes – or give the impression that when you release the ball it’s a strike, and then maybe [throw it] out of the strike zone. Today, I think that he was in the strike zone ‘up’ when he needed to be ‘down,’ and I think overall his command was lacking pretty much throughout the game with all his pitches.”
Anderson threw 87 pitches in the game, 60 for strikes. He struck out three and walked two. Both of those walks came in the second inning and eventually scored.
On Monday, Chatwood walked three and hit one batter. Three of those four baserunners made their way across home plate.
In the five instances this year where the Rockies have lost consecutive games, Chatwood has been involved each time, and Anderson has been involved three times.
The lack of command is disconcerting for Chatwood and Anderson, who last year were the only two starting pitchers on the Rockies roster to post ERAs below 4.00. So far in 2017, Chatwood’s carrying a 5.04 ERA, while Anderson comes in at 5.85, the worst among Colorado’s starters.
Despite the struggles from Chatwood and Anderson, the Rockies are currently in second place in the NL West thanks to superb efforts so far by a group of rookie starters.
Antonio Senzatela has come out of nowhere to go 7-1 with a 3.19 ERA. Hometown hero Kyle Freeland has been nearly as good at 5-3 and 3.43. German Marquez has gone 4-2 with a 3.76 ERA since joining the rotation in late April. And Jeff Hoffman has been strong, going 2-0 with a 3.29 ERA in two spot starts.
Black will call on Senzatela on Wednesday in Seattle to get the Rockies back into the win column and the starting pitching headed back in the right direction.
