DENVER — Given the high-scoring nature for the Texas Rangers in their last series, one might think that Texas’ offense is back to the levels it was last year in a season in which the bats carried them to a World Series championship. After all, the Rangers once again lead the American League in hits with 347, RBI with 189, batting average with .258, and runs with 199.
So why doesn’t it feel as dominant as it did last year? The simple answer is the inconsistent stretches where the offense goes silent coupled with a comparative lack of pop with a slugging percentage of .399 ranking them 7th in the American League.
The bats should get a pretty good test of their firepower though at hitter-friendly Coors Field against one of the worst teams in the majors as they take on the Colorado Rockies to conclude their road trip.
Texas Rangers (22-17, 1st Place AL West, +1.5 GB) @ Colorado Rockies (9-28, 5th Place NL West, 16.0 GB)
Previously, for Colorado…
Even though the Rockies play in one of the most notoriously hitter-friendly parks in all of baseball, their offense hasn’t been present for most of their games. Coming into this series, none of Colorado’s nine paltry wins have come consecutively. The Rockies even started the year by going a month before they never trailed in a game.
While Colorado is not dead last in any offensive metric, they’re at least in the bottom half to bottom third of baseball in all of them. One area they are tops in is strikeouts – they lead the National League with 363.
The NL West club has battled numerous injuries as well, and even though that can be said of all teams, the Rockies don’t have the depth to back up players like Kris Bryant and 2023 rookie standout Nolan Jones, both of whom are on the injured list with lower back strains. Long-time Rockie, Charlie Blackmon, who has turned into more of a role player, hasn’t hit either. The club’s two best offensive players are Ryan McMahon, slashing .293/.385/.466 with five homers and 19 RBI and catcher Elias Diaz, slashing .304/.354/.435 with three homers and 18 RBI. The rest of the field is far, far behind those two.
On top of the lineup woes, Colorado has contended with pitching injuries from key arms that have decimated a roster that already has troubles attracting pitchers and keeping them. Lucas Gilbreath and Antonio Senzatela, who were supposed to be key pieces to the pitching staff, are recovering from Tommy John surgery and not expected to pitch until mid-to-late this year, if not just next year.
Veteran Daniel Bard, who was expected to be the closer on the club, will not pitch again this year after suffering both a torn meniscus and undergoing surgery on his pitching arm. German Marquez, who was an ace at one point for the Rockies, is in the final stages of rehabbing from Tommy John surgery.
In short, it’s been a less than favorable draw for a team that had some pretty low expectations coming in and already find themselves 16 games out of first place a quarter of the way through the 2024 season as their 9-28 start is the worst in Rockies history.
As they welcome the Rangers to Coors Field, the Rockies are, in fact, coming off a win against the Giants. They had a nice offensive showing, highlighted by a seven-run fourth inning while holding San Francisco to one run. This win, however, was preceded by a couple of losses to the Giants, and those were preceded by two losses to the Pittsburgh Pirates, continuing Colorado’s unfortunate string of not having won a series yet this season.
What to watch for
Game 40, 7:40 PM CT - RHP Jon Gray (1-1, 2.50 ERA) vs. LHP Austin Gomber (0-2, 3.79 ERA)
Game 41, 7:10 PM CT - LHP Andrew Heaney (0-4, 4.50 ERA) vs. RHP Ryan Feltner (1-3, 5.54 ERA)
Game 42, 2:10 PM CT - TBD vs. RHP Dakota Hudson (0-6, 6.35 ERA)
It will be former Rockies 2013 first-round pick Jon Gray starting the opener for the Rangers. Gray, who pitched for seven years with the organization, put up a 53-49 record with a 4.59 ERA in 151 starts for the Rox. His tenure was marked by several injuries, finishing above 30 starts just once, in 2018, two years removed from placing sixth in the Rookie of the Year voting for 2016.
Gray has faced his former team just once – last year, when he pitched five innings and gave up just one run on five hits, but this will be his first trip back to his former home park.
At Coors Field, though, Gray has a track record. He’s 31-18 with a 4.54 ERA in 74 starts spanning 416 ⅔ innings. He’s given up just 55 home runs in that time and logged 415 strikeouts to 123 walks.
Andrew Heaney looks to continue a string of lengthy starts in the second game on Saturday. Heaney went six innings against Oakland in his last appearance, giving up just one run. He’s still looking for his first win of the season, but the lefty has certainly pitched well enough to warrant consideration to stay in the rotation for the near future. At the rate Rangers pitchers are hitting the IL, though, there’s not much of a choice.
Sunday’s starter is up in the air. After Heaney pitched in the opener of the Oakland series, it was starter-turned-reliever-turned-spot starter Jose Ureña that stepped up and toed the rubber for five innings for the Rangers at a time when two more starters had hit the IL.
With a six-man rotation sitting on the shelf, Ureña could be called on to start again. In Ureña’s outing in Oakland, he gave up just one earned run on four hits and two walks. The veteran threw 90 pitches and came away from it in good shape to pitch extended innings. That may give Texas reason enough to start him again.
The Rockies will send Austin Gomber, Ryan Feltner and Dakota Hudson to the hill during this weekend set. Gomber had a great outing against the Pirates. He did not earn a decision in that game, but pitched six scoreless innings as Colorado went on to take a loss. The lefty had a solid month of April, pitching to a 3.95 ERA with 19 strikeouts.
Feltner did not have such a great start against Pittsburgh, taking the loss in a start in which he gave up five runs on eight hits in 5 ⅔ innings. A strikeout pitcher mostly, Feltner ends up getting hit hard. For the season, he has a 1.46 WHIP, and opponents are hitting .299 off him.
Hudson, the former St. Louis Cardinal, has had a very rough start to the season. For the month of April, Hudson went 0-4 with a 6.57 ERA, nearly a 2 WHIP with opponents hitting .290 against him, while registering just 16 strikeouts. In his last two starts, Hudson took losses again, giving up six runs in 9 ⅓ innings of work.
After a successful couple of series on this road trip, Texas would still do well to not overlook the Rockies; this is a good series to reset some offensive expectations and align the patchworked starting rotation. It would also be a good time for Corey Seager to get the ball rolling – the World Series MVP has a career .322/.424/.527 slash line with five homers and 25 RBI at Coors Field, having played in 38 games there as a member of the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Do you think the Rangers will close out their road trip with a series win in Colorado? Share your predictions with Matt on Twitter @FisherWritesMLB.
