COLORADO ROCKIES NOTES:
BAY WATCH
- The Colorado Rockies continue their final road trip of the first half tonight with the first of three games in San Francisco, their first visit to the Bay Area this season … are coming off a pair of losses in Houston to begin the trip.
- Colorado has lost 10 straight road games dating back to June 14, tied for the second-longest road losing streak in franchise history, the longest since a club record 13 consecutive road losses May 10-June 2, 2008.
- Across this span, the Rockies have been outscored 33-74 (-41) while slashing .222/.294/.395 … Rockies starters have posted an 11.14 ERA (42.0 IP, 52 ER) across this span with only three starts of five or more innings … 4.74 ERA (38.0 IP, 20 ER) out of the bullpen.
- The Rockies have lost four in a row overall, their sixth streak of the season of as many or more consecutive losses … only Washington (six) and Oakland (seven) have as many or more streaks of four or more losses this year.
THE BFG
- The Giants have won each of the last 11 meetings with the Rockies dating back to August of 2022 …the longest winning streak by either team in the history of the matchup is 12-straight by San Francisco between 2021 and 2022.
- The Giants are 32-9 (.780) against the Rockies since the start of the 2021 season, the best record by any MLB team in a divisional matchup in that span (via STATS).
- Colorado is 88-163 overall in San Francisco, going 6-17 at Oracle Park since 2020.
RUN IT
- The Rockies have allowed 162 runs through their last 20 games, their third-most in team history through any 20-game span trailing a stretch in 1999 (169 runs) and one in 2019 (166 runs) … only the A’s have allowed more runs through a stretch of 20 games this season, giving up 173 from April 8-28.
- Through this span, Rockies pitchers have worked to an 8.16 ERA (172.0 IP, 156 ER), the second-highest clip in franchise history through 20 games trailing an 8.22 ERA from June 15-July 5, 1999.
- Over the last 40 games, Colorado starters are 3-21 with a 7.71 ERA … all three victories in that stretch belong to tonight’s starter, Austin Gomber.
THE ROOKIE, THE FATHER
- Shortstop Ezequiel Tovar had his career-long hit streak snapped at 15 games Tuesday in Houston, the longest of the season by a Rockies player and tied for the fourth-longest hit streak by a Colorado rookie in team history (also: Juan Pierre, Sept. 6-21, 2000).
- The 21-year-old shortstop has a hit in 29 of 33 since May 27, batting .323 (41-for-127) through this span … his batting average over this period leads the Rockies, is tied for seventh in the NL and is third among Major League rookies … over this span, has raised his season average from .223 to .266.
- Tovar’s 1.2 defensive WAR (Baseball Reference) is the eighth-highest mark among all National League players, while his 1.7 overall WAR is currently the seventh-highest for a rookie in franchise history
ROCKIES STARTING PITCHER – #26 AUSTIN GOMBER LHP
LET ME INTRODUCE MYSELF
- Winter Garden, Fla., native is in his 10th professional season, his fifth in the Majors and his third with the Rockies.
- Acquired by Colorado, along with four other players including INF Elehuris Montero in exchange for 3B Nolan Arenado.
- Originally selected by St. Louis in the fourth round of the 2014 First-Year Player Draft out of Florida Atlantic University.
LAST TIME OUT
- Tossed a season-high seven innings on June 30 vs. Detroit at Coors Field in an 8-5 Rockies win … allowed three runs (two earned) on six hits with one walk and a season-high seven strikeouts.
- Joined Kyle Freeland (two times) as the only Rockies starters to toss seven innings this season … became the first Rockies starter to toss seven innings at Coors Field since Chad Kuhl’s complete game shutout against the Dodgers on June 27, 2022.
HOARDER
- Has won each of his last two starts after also beating Los Angeles-AL at Coors Field on June 25 … allowed two runs on five hits across five innings.
- Is the only Rockies starting pitcher with a win dating back to May 23 … his win on June 25 snapped a 30-game stretch without a starting pitcher earning a win was the longest in franchise history and the seventh-longest in Major League history.
DOWN BY THE BAY
- Making his first start against the Giants this season … in seven career appearances (five starts) against San Francisco has gone 1-4 with an 8.16 ERA (28.2 IP, 26 ER).
- Six of his seven career appearances against the Giants have been at Oracle Park, where he is 1-4 with an 8.53 ERA (25.1 IP, 24 ER) … won his last start in San Francisco, June 9 of last season, allowing two runs on five hits across six innings.
HOW THE TURNTABLES…
- Began his season with four straight losses through April 19, the eighth time a Rockies starter has started 0-4 through their first four starts of a season … first since Roy Oswalt (five straight, June 20-Sept. 14) and Jeff Manship (four straight, Aug. 8-24) in 2013.
- Went 4-0 across his next six starts, April 24-May 23, posting a 3.74 ERA (33.2 IP, 14 ER) with three quality starts … Rockies went 7-1 over an eight-start Gomber stretch from April 24-June 3 (4-0, 4.91 ERA).
ON YOUR LEFT
- Left-handed hitters have hit .388 (26-for-67) with six home runs off him this season after he held opposing lefties to a .221 average in 2022 (30- for-136), the ninth-lowest in a single season in franchise history (min. 140 batters faced.).
- His average vs. left-handed hitters is the highest among qualifying pitchers.
- Entering this season lefties had slashed .236/.294/.373 (88-for-373) with 10 home runs off him.
MAN OF THE SUMMER
- Has a career record of 4-0 with a 3.40 ERA (50.1 IP, 19 ER) in 13 appearances, seven starts, in July, his lowest ERA in any calendar month.
SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS NOTES:
TODAY’S GAME: The Giants and Rockies meet up for their final three games heading into the All-Star break…SF swept Colorado at Coors Field June 6-8 and is facing them here at Oracle for the first time this season…since 2021, SF has gone 15-4 vs. the Rockies here at Oracle Park with a +50 run differential (101-51).
THE BIG BREAK: The Giants are entering their last series before the All-Star break and looking a lot like last year’s team heading into the Midsummer Classic.
CHEAPER BY THE DOZEN: The Giants have won each of their last 11 meetings with the Rockies dating back to last August… the longest winning streak by either team in the history of the matchup is 12 straight by SF between 2021 and 2022… the Giants are 32-9 (.780) against the Rockies since the start of the 2021 season, the best record by any MLB team in a divisional matchup in that span (Stats, LLC).
ROCKY STRETCH: The matchup comes at a good time for SF, as Colorado has allowed more than eight runs per game over their last 20 outings…their 162 runs allowed since June 13 are the third-most runs in a 20-game span in team history, trailing a stretch in 1999 (169) and 2019 (166)…according to Stats, LLC, the only team to allow more runs in a 20-game span this season is Oakland (173 from April 8-28).
SEND HELP: SF has lost nine players to the Injured List since June 14, with four of them (RHP John Brebbia, IF/OF Thairo Estrada and OF Mitch Haniger, RHP Luke Jackson) facing lenghty recoveries…in fact, the Giants have been plagued by injuries all season…their 29 IL assignments so far this year are most in MLB, while their 21 different players landing in the Injured List are tied for second-most behind the Dodgers (23).
ALL OR NOTHING: The Giants are coming off a 2-0 shutout win over the Mariners on Wednesday, one that followed a 6-0 shutout loss the day prior…SF has been involved in 16 shutouts (eight wins and eight losses) overall this year, matching the Pirates and Tigers for most in MLB (Stats, LLC).
LATE BLOOMERS: Since June 1, no team in MLB has scored more runs than the Giants from the 5th inning on (115)…the next closest team, Cincinnati, has 105 in that time…SF’s .802 OPS after the 5th inning in that span is second-best in MLB behind the Braves (.886).
TOUGH STRETCH: After winning 10 straight games from June 11-21, SF has gone just 5-8 in 13 games since…the Giants have been outscored 62-39 (-23) while logging a .604 OPS offensively…they’ve averaged 3.0 runs per game but have done okay with runners in scoring position, posting an. 752 OPS in those spots…below is a breakdown of the Giants last 13 games versus their 10-game win streak that preceded this stretch…SF had been without a few of its key offensive contributors during this recent stretch with OFs Michael Conforto and OF Mike Yastrzemski each missing some time and now IF Thairo Estrada has hit the IL.
THE FUNK…: The Giants .604 OPS since June 22 is tied for the lowest in the Majors with the Oakland A’s in that time… SF’s strikeout rate of 27.3% is highest in the Majors in that run, as is their 3.00 runs per game being the lowest…on the pitching side, SF’s 4.70 team ERA is 19th of 30 MLB teams in this stretch…their 110 strikeouts also rank 19th, while the 118 hits they’ve allowed are the 11th-most in MLB.
BIG PICTURE: Despite this tough stretch, the Giants have still been one of the best teams in baseball over the last 2+ months, posting a 36-24 record since May 1…SF’s .600 winning percentage in that stretch is the third-best in the Majors behind the Braves (40-19, .678) and the Reds (37-23, .617)…that success is in large part due to the bullpen, who’s sporting the best ERA in MLB at 2.90 with an MLB-high 275 strikeouts in that stretch, almost 20 over the second place Dodgers (256).
BREAKING THE ICE: IF J.D. Davis has shown a knack for hitting breaking pitches this season…his .340 average off breaking balls this year is second-best in MLB (min. 100 PA) behind Tampa Bay’s Yandy Díaz (.355)…according to Stats, LLC, Rockies pitchers have allowed a .235 batting average off their breaking balls this season, fourth highest in MLB.
TODAY’S STARTER – ROSS STRIPLING RHP #48
2023 RECORD: 0-2, 6.51 ERA
WITH THE GIANTS: The 33-year-old right-hander inked a two-year Major League contract with the Giants this past December… the deal included an opt-out following this season.
TODAY’S GAME: Today marks Stripling’s second start, and third appearance since being activated off the injured list (low back strain) on June 25…as a starter this year, Stripling is 0-2 with a 6.08 ERA (16er, 23.2ip), 16 strikeouts and a 1.48 WHIP in six starts.
LAST OUTING: Retired six of the seven batters he faced over 2.0 innings at Citi Field with a walk and two strikeouts on 24 pitches… it was Stripling’s first start since May 17 vs. Philadelphia, when he exited with a low back strain.
VS. COLORADO: Stripling will make his first appearance against Colorado since Aug. 23, 2020 at Dodger Stadium…he has a 3.75 ERA (10er, 24.0ip) with 13 strikeouts in his five games as a starter against Colorado compared to a 0.68 ERA (1er, 13.1ip) with 12 strikeouts in his nine games as a reliever…Stripling was the Rockies’ ninth round in the 2011 MLB Draft, but he chose to return to Texas A&M, and was selected a year later by the Dodgers in the fifth round.
ROCKY MOUNTAIN MATCH-UPS: The Rockies active roster have six combined hits in 26 at-bats against Stripling in his career, but two of them were home runs from IF Ryan McMahon and OF Jurickson Profar…McMahon and OF Kris Bryant are the only Rockies with multiple career hits off Stripling…Bryant has struck out three times in his nine at-bats against Stripling.
BACK IN ACTION: Stripling missed 35 games with a low back strain, which he sustained against the Phillies on May 17…he made three rehab outings, the final of which he struck out 10 in 4.0 innings for Single-A San Jose…while on the IL, Stripling told the SF Chronicle’s Susan Slusser that he was using his time on the IL to tweak things in his delivery…more specifically, he was working on standing taller through his delivery.
SLIDE ON OVER: The damage vs. Stripling has been rather spread out between his three favorite pitches (slider, four-seam fastball and changeup)…the three pitches all have usage rates of at least 23%, yet also have opposing slugging percentages of at least .490…Baseball Savant also shows a notable change in production from Stripling’s slider, which had an impressive -7 run value last year, and currently is +2 in 2023.
CHANGE IT UP: Sports Info Solutions noted a statistical drop off this season in Stripling’s changeup…opponents hit .203 vs. his changeup in 2022…they are batting .340 vs. the pitch this year…SIS also noted that Stripling’s changeup, which had a -2 run value last year, is now +7, and trails only ARI RHP Zach Davies and LAD LHP Julio Urías for the worst-performing changeup in MLB this year (+8 run value on Baseball Savant).
FINDING THE BARREL: The righty currently has a 12.2% barrel rate and a 26.8% line drive rate, both of which are the highest marks of his career…Stripling’s four-seamer is getting hit the hardest at a 53.8% rate, yet he has a 20.0% put-away rate and 27.0% whiff rate with the pitch, both the best amongst his three main pitches.
