This is your Colorado Rockies Mile High Sports Report for the Week of May 22-28.
This Week
The Rox went 5-2 and won both of their series at home against the Marlins and Mets. They are now 24-30 on the season and are in a virtual tie with the San Diego Padres for last place in the NL West, eight games behind the first-place Dodgers.
Colorado has won five of their last seven series since May 2 and six of their last nine series since April 24.
The weekend series with the Mets was a wild one as Colorado scored 21 runs in the final two games but still only won them by a combined four.
Before that set, the Rockies made another transaction, calling up corner infielder/outfielder Nolan Jones and sending Michael Toglia back to Triple-A to continue his search for a bit more contact.
Jones was scorching Albuquerque to the tune of .356/.481/.711 with 12 home runs and 42 RBI in 39 games played.
Elias Díaz has not gone hitless in back-to-back starts all season and has hit in 33 of his 41 starts. He is tied for third in the Majors with a .333 batting average batting average and ranks fourth with a .455 batting average (20-for-44) with runners in scoring position. Díaz is tied for first in the Majors with Freddie Freeman with a .374 average (34-for-91) at home. He has gone 15-for-26 (.577) with 15 RBI with runners in scoring position at Coors Field.
He is also tied for second among position players in the NL with 2.3 WAR and tied for fourth overall in the NL his dWAR (1.0) is third-best in the National League. Has appeared in 45 games at catcher, the second-most in the Majors and his 10 “catcher caught stealings” are third in the Majors, while his 40.7 caught stealing percentage ranks second.
On Thursday, closer Pierce Johnson blew his first save of the season, though rookie Ezequiel Tovar picked him up by making that game a walk-off winner anyway. Johnson’s ERA has ballooned up to 6.23 but he didn’t allow a run in his next outing, securing his 11th save of the year in 12 chances.
The Rockies are on the road in Arizona and Kansas City next.
History in the Making
On Tuesday, Charlie Blackmon recorded the 298th double of his career, moving him past Larry Walker into sole possession of second place all-time in Rockies history. He his another one later in the week so he only needs 293 more to catch Todd Helton for first.
On Wednesday, Chuck Nasty hit a triple, extending his own franchise record to 60. Blackmon is currently MLB’s active leader in triples with Kevin Kiermeier behind him at 54 and Starling Marte and Mike Trout at 51.
The win on Sunday afternoon was Bud Black’s 441st as a manager of the Rockies. He passed Don Baylor and moved into second place all time and needs 93 more to catch Clint Hurdle for the top spot. Black has 1,090 wins overall in his MLB career, which is sixth most among active managers.
This Week in Rockies History
During this week in 2010, the Rockies went 5-1 behind Jeff Francis, Aaron Cook, Jason Hammel, and Ubaldo Jimenez. Jimenez went eight innings against the Arizona Diamondbacks without giving up a run, lowering his ERA on the season to 0.88.
Over the course of two games from May 21-22, 1996, Hall of Famer Larry Walker recorded a franchise record six-straight extra-base hits. He went 4-for-5 with two home runs, one triple and one double on May 21 before starting the May 22 game with a double and a triple.
The 2007 team entered the week of May 22 nine games under .500 but rattled off six consecutive victories to make their record 24-27. They went on to win the National League.
