Left-hander Jorge De La Rosa didn’t walk a batter during his seven-inning gem against the Giants at Coors Field on Friday.
And lefty Chris Rusin issued only one walk in his complete-game victory over the Giants on Thursday.
Sensing a pattern here?
Rockies manager Walt Weiss sure does. Asked before Saturday’s game what the key has been to his club’s improved pitching, Weiss said: “The guys are throwing strikes, that’s at the top of the list. We really struggled early on. That’s a big part of it.”
Colorado starters had issued 278 walks entering Saturday, the second-most in the National League (Atlanta had allowed 282), but there has been improvement lately. That factors into why the Rockies’ starters had posted a 3.59 ERA over their last 11 games entering Saturday.
Rollin’ with Nolan. Third baseman Nolan Arenado has been overshadowed a bit by the recent heroics of teammate Carlos Gonzalez. But Arenado has been putting up gaudy statistics of his own.
He entered Saturday riding a seven-game streak in which he had driven in at least one run. It was the second time this season he had done that. Only the Nationals’ Ryan Zimmerman has a longer streak this season in the National League. Zimmerman drove in a run in eight consecutive games Aug. 3-10.
Colorado’s record for consecutive games with an RBI is held by CarGo, who had an 11-game streak in 2008.
Arenado led the NL with 103 RBIs and 294 total bases entering Saturday.
Faith in Diaz. Weiss plans to continue using hard-throwing, right-handed reliever Jairo Diaz in late-game situations. The Rockies want to see what the 24-year-old Diaz brings to the table beyond his 97 mph fastball.
“He seems to be pretty composed when he’s out there,” Weiss said. “Doesn’t seem to get rattled by the big spots.”
Diaz struggled early with Triple-A Albuquerque before getting called up Aug. 23. He was 3-5 with a 4.58 ERA in 47 relief appearances, with eight saves in 14 chances. He made adjustments that seem to be paying off now.
“I think the hitters were getting a good look at the ball early on, and he tweaked some things mechanically to try to hide the ball a little longer,” Weiss said. “A guy throwing that hard, with a slider that hard, you shouldn’t get hit hard — and he was early in the season. So I think a lot of it was just due to the fact that hitters were seeing the ball a long time.”
Giants’ Madison Bumgarner (16-7, 2.96 ERA) at Rockies’ Yohan Flande (3-1, 4.04), 2:10 p.m. Sunday, ROOT; 850 AM
Bumgarner, the hero of the Giants’ World Series championship last fall, suffered a hard-luck loss to the Dodgers on Tuesday. He allowed just two runs on eight hits and struck out eight. Unfortunately for him, he was up against the Dodgers’ Zack Greinke. San Francisco has won eight of Bumgarner’s last 10 starts. He is 10-6 with a 3.09 ERA in his career against the Rockies. Flande has been one of the best surprises of Colorado’s disappointing season. Since moving into the rotation, he’s 2-0 with a 4.06 ERA in seven starts.
Monday: Rockies’ Kyle Kendrick (4-12, 6.29 ERA) at Padres’ Ian Kennedy (8-12, 3.88), 2:10 p.m., ROOT
Tuesday: Rockies’ Jon Gray (0-0, 6.15) at Padres’ Colin Rea (2-2, 5.47), 8:10 p.m., ROOT
Wednesday: Rockies’ Chris Rusin (5-7, 4.78) at Padres’ James Shields (10-6, 3.83), 7:10 p.m., ROOT
