COLORADO ROCKIES NOTES:
OPEN FOR BUSINESS
• The Colorado Rockies opened the 2023 season last night with a 7-2 win over the San Diego Padres … the win improved the Rockies Opening Day record to 17-14 in franchise history, including 12-10 on the road and 3-0 vs. San Diego.
• The Rockies have recorded at least 17 hits in an Opening Day game three times in franchise history, with all three against the Padres … Colorado recorded 18 hits in each of their previous two Opening Day games against the Padres in 2005 and 1999.
• The Rockies have started 2-0 in a season six times in franchise history, most recently in 2019.
OPEN SESAME
• Last night, the Rockies became the first team in the Modern Era (since 1900) to record at least 17 hits and 17 strikeouts (batting) in a nine-inning game.
• It was the 17th time in franchise history that the Rockies struck out at least 17 times in a game, the ninth time in a game of nine innings or less, and just the seventh time that they won a game with 17 strikeouts.
• Kris Bryant, Charlie Blackmon and C.J. Cron, the Rockies’ three-four-five hitters in the lineup, combined to go 10-for-15 in last night’s game.
• In the seventh inning, Cron and Elehuris Montero recorded back-to-back home runs, the third time in franchise history that two Rockies went back-to-back on Opening Day (also: Trevor Story & Carlos Gonzalez in 2016 at Arizona and Troy Tulowitzki & Chris Iannetta in 2009 at Arizona).
OPEN CRON ZONE
• Last night, C.J. Cron joined Vinny Castilla (1998 at Arizona) and Trevor Story (2016 at Arizona) as the only Rockies in franchise history to record two home runs in an Opening Day game … he also joined Castilla as the only Rockies players in franchise history to record five RBI on Opening Day.
• Cron finished the day with four hits, including two home runs and one double, the fourth player since 1960 to do so on Opening Day … Cron joined Pittsburgh’s Xavier Nady (2008), Toronto’s John Mayberry (1980) and the Yankees’ Roger Maris (1960).
OPEN ROAD
• The Rockies went 10-9 against the Padres during the 2022 season, including a 3-6 record at Petco Park vs. a 7-3 record at Coors Field … Rockies pitchers recorded a 5.36 ERA against San Diego while the offense scored an average of 4.8 runs per game.
• Colorado is a combined 21-17 against San Diego since 2021, despite being outscored by the Padres 179-161 … the Rockies last won a series at Petco Park July 9-11, 2021, taking two of three games.
OPEN BOOK
• Last night, Charlie Blackmon made his 10th career Opening Day start, surpassing Troy Tulowitzki (nine) and Carlos González (nine) for the second-most Opening Day starts behind Todd Helton’s 16.
• Blackmon went 3-for-5 in last night’s game after entering the game 3-for-38 overall in his previous nine Opening Days.
• The 2023 season is Blackmon’s 13th on the Rockies’ Major League roster, the second-most seasons in Rockies history behind Todd Helton’s 17.
OPEN MARKET
• Seven players on Colorado’s Opening Day roster will be making their Rockies debut when they take the field: right-handed pitchers Pierce Johnson (San Diego) and Connor Seabold (Boston), left-handers Brad Hand (Philadelphia) and Brent Suter (Milwaukee), infielder Mike Moustakas (Cincinnati), outfielder Jurickson Profar (San Diego) and utility man Harold Castro (Detroit), who debuted for the team last night.
• Bud Black’s field staff has a new look for 2023, with Hensley “Bam Bam” Meulens taking over as hitting coach … former Triple-A Albuquerque manager (2021-22) Warren Schaeffer will serve as the Rockies third base and infielder coach.
OPEN ENROLLMENT
• Six players will appear on their first Opening Day active roster: pitchers Jake Bird, Ryan Feltner and Connor Seabold, catcher Brian Serven, and infielders Elehuris Montero and Ezequiel Tovar.
• The Rockies have two players with their rookie status still intact on the Opening Day roster: INF Ezequiel Tovar and RHP Connor Seabold.
• Three Colorado natives made the Rockies Opening Day squad: Kyle Freeland (Denver, Thomas Jefferson High School), Ty Blach (Denver, Regis Jesuit High School) and Pierce Johnson (Denver, Faith Christian Academy) … Lucas Gilbreath (Westminster, Legacy High School) is on the 60-day injured list recovering from Tommy John surgery … Connor Seabold lived in Colorado for five years and once pitched at Coors Field while attending Castle View High School in Castle Rock, Colo., before moving back to California.
OPEN SPRING
• INF Elehuris Montero was named the 2023 Abby Greer Award winner as the Rockies Spring MVP, slashing .297/.348/.563 while ranking tied for third in the Cactus League in total bases (36) and home runs (five) and tied for fourth in hits (19).
• INF Ryan McMahon also finished among Cactus Leauge leaders, ranking tied for fourth in runs (14), seventh in on-base percentage (.397), tied for seventh in OPS (.961) and 10th in slugging (.564).
• OF Kris Bryant slashed .282/.391/.641 with four home runs in 16 Spring games.
• Five Rockies pitchers had sub-2.50 ERAs during the Spring: Germán Márquez (0.53), Ty Blach (0.77), Dinelson Lamet (1.00), Pierce Johnson (2.35) and Justin Lawrence (2.45).
21 ROCKIES STARTING PITCHER KYLE FREELAND LHP
LAND OF THE FREE
• Appeared in two games for the USA in the World Baseball Classic, allowing two runs on three hits over 6.0 innings (3.00 ERA), striking out five and walking two.
• In the Championship game vs. Japan, struck out WBC MVP Shohei Ohtani … Freeland’s 41 pitches in the Championship game were the most by any pitcher who appeared during the contest.
• In three Cactus League starts, went 1-1 with a 5.79 ERA (9.1 IP, 6 ER) with one walk and five strikeouts.
THIS ‘N THAT
• Finished fourth in 2018 NL Cy Young Award voting going 17-7 with a 2.85 ERA (202.1 IP, 64 ER) … became the second pitcher in Rockies history to ever finish in the top five in Cy Young voting (also: Jiménez, third place in 2010).
• Pitched 8.1 no-hit innings on July 9, 2017 vs. Chicago-AL, the longest no-hit bid for a Rockies pitcher at Coors Field in franchise history.
THE YEAR TWENTY THOUSAND AND TWENTY-TWO (2022)
• Finished the season posting a 4.53 ERA across 31 starts … of those 31 starts, 13 of them were quality, his most in a full season since logging 24 quality starts in 2018 … set career-highs in runs allowed (96), earned runs (88).
• The Rockies announced on April 19, 2022 that they agreed to a five-year contract extension with Freeland covering the 2022-26 seasons … the extension includes two arbitration years and three years of free agency.
• The 29-year-old Denver native graduated from Thomas Jefferson High School, 15 minutes south of Coors Field … selected in the first round of the 2014 First-Year Player Draft (eighth overall), the third player in University of Evansville history to be drafted in the first round.
YOU STAY CLASSY SAN DIEGO
• Went 3-1 in five starts against the Padres in 2022, posting a 6.75 ERA (25.1 IP, 19 ER), walking 10 and striking out 15 … was 2-0 with a 3.09 ERA (11.2 IP, 4 ER) in two starts in San Diego.
• In 20 career outings (18 starts) against the Padres, has gone 6-6 with a 4.66 ERA (100.1 IP, 52 ER) … is 3-4 with a 3.42 ERA (52.2 IP, 20 ER) in his career at Petco Park.
WESTERN SLOPE
• Made 15 starts against NL West opponents in 2022, going 5-5 (Rockies 8-7) with a 5.53 ERA (83.0 IP, 51 ER) with 29 walks and 70 strikeouts … allowed 37 extra-base hits (25 2B, three 3B, nine HR) while opponents slashed .284/.349/.462 against him.
• Tossed six or more frames in nine of 15 starts, posting a 4.53 ERA (55.2 IP, 28 ER) when logging at least six innings.
• Career 21-26 record (Rockies 41-37) against the NL West in 78 appearances (76 starts), pitching to a 4.60 clip with 138 walks and 315 strikeouts (6.80 SO/9).
SAN DIEGO PADRES NOTES:
Padres fall 7-2 to Rockies on Opening Day
• According to the Elias, the Rockies became the 1st team in the Modern Era (since 1900) to have 17 or more hits and 17 or more strikeouts in a nine-inning game.
• Blake Snell struck out 9 but received the loss after allowing 3 runs (earned) on 6 hits with a walk.
• Xander Bogaerts went 3-for-4 with a pair of doubles, becoming the 2nd Padre SS to ever have a 3-hit game on Opening Day (also Garry Templeton in both 1983 and ’86).
• Petco hosted 45,103 patrons for their 1st sellout of the season. Friars set Opening Day Roster
• The Padres’ Opening Day roster featured 9 right-handed pitchers, 4 left-handers, 2 catchers, 7 infielders and 4 outfielders…Brent Honeywell and Domingo Tapia made their 1st appearance on a Major League Opening Day roster.
• This is the 1st Opening Day since 2015 in which SD’s full OD roster had every player with at least 1 big league game (Elias). Martinez makes 1st start since June 18 @ Colorado
• Nick Martinez gets the ball as a starter for the 1st time since June 18, 2022 @ Colorado…in fact, including tonight, his last 3 starts have been against the Rockies, with his last one at Petco coming on June 11, 2022.
Happy day, Brent!
• Join the Padres in wishing Brent Honeywell a happy 28th birthday! He was born March 31, 1995 in Augusta, GA.
No. 1 Ballpark in baseball: 2023 version
• For the second straight year, Petco Park was ranked by USA Today as the No. 1 Ballpark in baseball… you can view the list here. Tatis to return on April 20th
• Fernando Tatis Jr. will be eligible to return to the ML team on April 20, 2023 (the start of a 4-game series @ ARI)…he’ll serve the final 20 games of his suspension from MLB’s Joint Prevention and Treatment Program to start the 2023 season after serving 60 G from Aug. 12 through the Padres’ 12-game 2022 Postseason run.
STARTING PITCHER – NICK MARTINEZ
Martinez gets the ball for Game 2
Right-hander Nick Martinez takes the mound for the Padres’ second game of the season tonight vs. Colorado…he made 2 starts vs. the Rockies as part of his 6 total appearances vs. Colorado last season, posting a combined 3.31 ERA (6 ER, 16.1 IP), 16 SO vs. 6 BB and a .310 opponents AVG. His 2 starts vs. COL last season came in back-to-back outings on June 11 and 18, allowing 5 ER across 10.2 IP (4.22 ERA)…he struck out a season-high 9 batters in the June 11 outing at Petco Park…he allowed 2 HR in the June 18 outing at COL, 1 of his 3 outings he allowed multi-HRs. Once he fully moved into a relief role, he made 4 relief outings vs. COL from July 12-Sept.25, posting a 1.59 ERA with a .346 opp. AVG.
Representin’
On February 19, 2023, Team USA announced that Martinez replaced Clayton Kershaw on the 30-man roster for the United States team in the 2023 World Baseball Classic…he started Game 2 of pool play against Team Mexico and was the losing pitcher, allowing five hits and three runs with two strikeouts in 2 2/3 innings of the 11-5 defeat…after he wasn’t guaranteed to start for Team USA for the rest of the event, he returned to Padres spring training to prepare for the start of the major league season.
Cactus League play
Martinez went 2-1 with 1.93 ERA across his 4 Cactus League starts this Spring…he struck out 19 across 14.0 IP and opponents hit .245 against him.
Nick’s with us
He originally signed with SD on March 16, 2022 to a 1-year contract for the 2022 season with player options for 2023, 2024 and 2025…exercised his opt out clause after the ’22 season, but re-signed with SD to a 3-year contract through 2025 with a club option covering he 2024 and 2025 seasons…if the club option is declined, Martinez holds two separate player options and can either opt-out or extend the contract through 2024 and 2025.
A one-man category
In 2022, he converted 8 of his 9 save opportunities and collected 8 holds while also making 10 starts…he’s the only pitcher in MLB history to have 4+ holds and 8+ saves while also making 10+ starts in a single campaign.
Dad strength
After returning from the paternity list following the birth of his daughter, Stella, on August 1, 2022, he posted a career-long 15.0 scoreless-inning streak from Aug. 1 to Aug. 29 across 11 appearances. It was the 2nd-longest streak among all SD relievers in ‘22, trailing only Tim Hill (18.2 scoreless IP from July 9-Sept 6).
A Postseason to remember
Made his MLB Postseason debut in ’22, highlighted by 8.1 consecutive-scoreless innings across his 6 NLDS and NLCS appearances vs. LAD and PHI. In Game 4 of the NLCS at PHI, he became the first reliever in Padres’ franchise Postseason history to throw 3.0+ IP without allowing a hit after starter Mike Clevinger failed to record an out in SD’s 10-6 defeat.
Back where he belongs
Prior to ’22, he last pitched in the States between 2014- 17 with the Texas Rangers…in his first 4 Major League seasons, the Miami, Fla. native went 17-30 with a 4.77 ERA (220 ER, 415.1 IP) and 237 strikeouts in 88 games (68 starts).
