COLORADO ROCKIES NOTES:
ALL YOU NEED IS A LIGHT JACKET
• The Colorado Rockies continue their seven-game road trip tonight with the second of three games in Cleveland after dropping three of four in Philadelphia.
• The Rockies .292 winning percentage is last in the National League and is the second-lowest in franchise history through 24 games, one game ahead of the 2005 Rockies (6-18, .250).
DONUTS
• The Rockies won the series opener last night in Cleveland, 6-0 … of their seven wins on the season, three have been shutouts, tied for the fourth-most shutouts in the Majors.
• Colorado had six shutouts in 2022, but did not record their first until June 24 at Milwaukee … the franchise record for shutout victories in a season is 12, set by the 2010 Rockies.
SERIES OF EVENTS
• A win today or tomorrow will give the Rockies their first series win of 2023 … have lost or split each of their first seven series of the season, the first time in franchise history that Colorado has failed to win any of their first seven series.
• The Rockies have won five of eight series opening games this season … have won the second game of the series just once, beating San Diego March 30-31 before losing the next two games to split the series.
SPRING CLEANING
• Colorado has made 17 errors, tied with San Francisco for the most in the Majors, and has allowed an MLB-most 18 unearned runs through their first 24 games.
• Rockies pitchers have posted a 45.2 ground ball percentage so far this season, the seventh-highest rate in the Majors.
CHUCK (STILL) NAZTY
• Charlie Blackmon is sitting at 890 career runs scored, two shy of tying Larry Walker for the second-most in franchise history.
• Blackmon’s 291 career doubles are six short of tying Walker for the second-most doubles in franchise history.
• Germán Márquez needs just seven strikeouts to tie Jorge De La Rosa for the most strikeouts in franchise history … Márquez’s next win will be the 66th of his career, breaking a tie with Jeff Francis for the third-most wins in franchise history … De La Rosa holds the franchise record with 86 wins.
ARM BARN
• The Rockies bullpen has tossed 94.0 innings of relief through 24 games, the third-most in the Majors and the most in the National League … Rockies relievers have recorded 98 strikeouts, tied for the third-most in the Majors.
• Jake Bird is tied for the NL lead with 15.2 innings of relief, and ranks third among NL relievers with 19 strikeouts … has pitched 9.1 scoreless innings over his last five outings with three hits, two walks and 15 strikeouts.
• Brent Suter has tossed 14.1 innings, the fourth-most in the NL, and posted a 1.26 ERA (14.1 IP, 2 ER), fifth-lowest in the Majors among relievers with at least 13 innings pitched … also has a Major League leading three pickoffs.
• Justin Lawrence has posted a 2.25 ERA (12.0 IP, 3 ER) with 14 strikeouts across his nine appearances while limiting opponents to a .141 average (7-for-45) … right-handed hitters are batting just .120 (3-for25).
DÍAZZLING
• Elias Díaz’s 21 games at catcher are the most in MLB … his .329 batting average ranks eight in the NL … his 23 hits (21 as a catcher, two as a pinch-hitter) are the second-most among primary catchers in the Majors.
• His four catcher caught stealings are tied for sixth in baseball … his only two errors behind the dish came on two catcher’s interference calls on Opening Day.
KBOOM
• Kris Bryant is slashing .298/.372/.452 on the season and has reached base safely in 20 of 22 games.
• Bryant has reached base safely in 57 of 64 total games in his Rockies career, slashing .303/.375/.467 … ranks fourth in the NL in average and seventh in OBP over the past two seasons (min. 275 PA).
ROCKIES STARTING PITCHER – #18 RYAN FELTNER RHP
YOUNG GUN
• The 26-year-old right-hander selected by the Rockies in the fourth round of the 2018 First-Year Player Draft out of Ohio State University.
• Born in Orlando, Florida but attended Walsh Jesuit High School in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio … was the 2015 Ohio Gatorade Baseball Player of the Year and was selected by Toronto in the 25th round of the 2015 Draft but chose to attend Ohio State.
LAST TIME OUT
• Earned his first win of the season in his fourth start on Thursday in Philadelphia after tossing 5.2 scoreless innings, striking out six and walking three.
• Feltner’s first career start allowing no runs (25 starts) … allowed zero runs in one career relief outing (July 29, 2022 vs. LAD).
• The outing marked the 14th time since the beginning of the 2022 season a Rockies pitcher went five or more innings while not allowing a run.
HOW IT’S GOING
• Second loss of the season in his third start on April 15 at Seattle … pitched 3.2 innings and allowed five runs on five hits with three walks and five strikeouts … allowed just one hit through the first three innings before allowing five runs on four hits in the fourth before exiting with two outs and one on.
• Did not get a decision in the Rockies 7-6 win over the Nationals on April 9 at Coors Field, allowing three runs on six hits over five innings while walking three and striking out three.
• Took the loss in his first start on April 3, allowing five runs over 4.2 innings to the Dodgers in Los Angeles.
PROGRESSIVE
• Today’s outing marks Feltner’s first against the Guardians and third career Interleague start.
• In his two career Interleague starts (both on the road), is 0-2 with 11.74 (7.2 IP, 10 ER) with four walks and seven strikeouts.
HOME HAPPENINGS
• In 2022, went 2-4 (Rockies 4-4) with a 6.46 ERA (39.0 IP, 28 ER) across eight starts at Coors Field, walking 15 and striking out 33 … allowed five home runs while opponents hit .248 (38-for-153).
• Tossed seven one-run innings in his first start at Coors Field May 30 vs. Miami, allowing four hits with one walk and six strikeouts … the lone run came on a solo homer from Jesús Sánchez … tossed at least six innings just once in his seven remaining home starts, posting a 7.59 ERA (32.0 IP, 27 ER).
• Lone career relief appearance came July 29 vs. Los Angeles-NL, tossing 3.1 shutout innings with three hits, two walks and two strikeouts.
ROAD WOES
• Has gone 3-7 with a 5.82 ERA (72.2 IP, 47 ER) in 15 career starts on the road … pitched fewer than five innings seven times, including fewer than four innings four times.
• Posted a 5.73 ERA (55.0 IP, 35 ER) across 11 road starts in 2022, logging a 2-5 record (Rockies 2-9) with 18 walks and 49 strikeouts … opponents slashed .281/.338/.484 with 11 home runs (61-for-217).
BODY OF WORK
• Through his first 25 career starts has gone 5-12 with a 6.34 ERA (119.1 IP, 84 ER), 52 walks and 109 strikeouts … his 6.34 ERA is tied for the highest in franchise history through a Rockies pitcher’s first 25 starts (Bryan Rekar) while his 12 losses are the second-most through a pitcher’s first 25 starts behind Eddie Butler (13 losses, 2014-16).
CLEVELAND GUARDIANS NOTES:
GUARDS GET OFF TO ROCKY START VS. COLORADO
Cleveland was shut out for the third time this season – first at home – falling to the Colorado Rockies by a 6-0 margin on Monday night at Progressive Field.
The Rockies notched their second victory over the team’s last 13 games, as southpaw Austin Gomber tossed 5.0 scoreless frames (5.0IP, 3H, 0R, 3BB, 3SO, 83 pitches) to lower his season ERA nearly 3 full points and help Colorado snap a 3-game skid… Cleveland’s offense was limited to 4 hits in the contest, 3 of those belonging to STEVEN KWAN (3-4, 2B), who led off the bottom of the 1st with the club’s lone extra-base hit…an 8th-inning lead-off single by MYLES STRAW was Cleveland’s lone knock over the final 4.0 frames of the contest, as Colorado’s ‘pen retired 12 of 13 faced…Guardians went 0-for-4 with runners in scoring position, stranding 6.
CAL QUANTRILL was touched for 5 runs and could not escape the 4th inning of his second loss this season (3.1IP, 8H, 5R-ER, 2BB, 2SO, HR, 80 pitches)…surrendered a one-out solo homer to Jurickson Profar in the 1st inning…and then allowed 6 of the first 7 Rox batters to reach safely in Colorado’s 4-run 4th inning.
The Clevelanders are 1-3 on current 6-game homestand against Miami (1-2) & Colorado (0-1, two-to-play)…club has dropped 7 of first 10 tilts at Progressive Field…Guardians (11-12) have lost 6 of last 8 overall, but still hold sole possession of 2nd place in AL Central standings, 2.0 games behind Minnesota (13-10).
TYPICAL TITO TEAM
Since TERRY FRANCONA was hired as the 42nd manager in franchise history in 2013, Cleveland has ranked highly among both MLB and AL clubs in numerous categories…looking at team rankings through nearly one month of the 2023 season, there are many categories that Cleveland continues to pace MLB in, especially with patient and selective hitting and team speed.
This season, Cleveland ranks 2nd in MLB in swing-and-miss percentage, whiffing on just 22.7% of their swings…since 2013, their 22.3% swing-and-miss percentage leads all of MLB, with Boston behind them at 23.1%…the Guards rank 1st in the AL/3rd in MLB this season with just 169 strikeouts and 5.26 plate appearances-per-strikeout…since 2013, Cleveland ranks 2nd in MLB with 11,744 strikeouts and 4.98 PA/K, behind Kansas City’s 11,391 strikeouts and 5.05 PA/K…the Guardians 93 walks rank T1st in the AL/T3rd in MLB, and they rank 2nd in the AL/4th in MLB with 9.56 plate-appearances-per-walk…under Francona’s leadership for the last 11 seasons, Cleveland ranks 3rd in AL/5th in MLB in walks (5,086) and 2nd in AL/4th in MLB in plate-appearances-per-walk (11.51).
he Guardians are commanding the basepaths this season with their MLB-leading 28 stolen bases and 33 attempts…since 2013, they rank 4th in MLB/3rd in AL with 1,048 stolen bases in 1,323 attempts…however, they lead the majors since 2013 with a 79.2 SB%, ahead of Kansas City (77.5%)…Cleveland’s 9 sacrifice flies are T2nd in MLB, behind Pittsburgh’s 11…since 2013, Cleveland has a commanding lead over MLB teams with 463 sacrifice flies, ahead of Houston’s 427.
OUR BRAND OF BASEBALL
For the first time since tallying 29 steals in 1996, Cleveland has 28+ steals in the first 23 games of the season…the last MLB team before the Guards to tally 28+ steals through the team’s first 22 games of a season were the 2015 Houston Astros (30) and Cincinnati Reds (28).
Since the start of 2019, Cleveland’s 159 sac flies rank 2nd in the AL and 3rd in MLB behind Los Angeles-NL (164) and Houston (173)…JOSH BELL (21) is T9th in MLB during that stretch.
Cleveland is pacing MLB with 335 infield hits since the start of 2021, 12 ahead of Tampa Bay (323)…MYLES STRAW is T3rd in MLB over that period, legging out 48 infield hits…he is T2nd with 4 other players in MLB in 2023 with 6 infield hits, trailing NYM’s Jeff McNeil.
GRINDING IT OUT
Through 23 games this season, Cleveland’s 4 extra-inning victories and 0 losses still lead MLB…the 2023 Guardians are the third team in franchise history to be unbeaten in extra-inning contests with a 4-0 record or better through 23 games…Cleveland was also 4-0 in 1994 and went 6-0-2 in 1910.
Cleveland leads MLB with 13 games decided by one run, going 6-7 in those contests…the 6 one-run victories are T2nd in MLB with Miami (6-0), trailing Baltimore (7-2)…an MLB-leading 17 of 23 Guardians contests this season have been decided by two-runs-or-less, with Cleveland earning an MLB-high 9 wins…since TERRY FRANCONA became manager in 2013, Cleveland holds MLB’s 5th-best win percentage (2nd-best in AL) in one-run games and MLB’s 3rd-best win percentage (2nd-best in AL) in two-run games.
MLB WIN PCT. IN ONE-RUN GAMES SINCE 2013
TEAM RECORD WIN %
Atlanta 239-197 .548
Milwaukee 230-190 .548
New York-AL 232-195 .543
St. Louis 239-203 .541
Cleveland 214-184 .538
MLB WIN PCT. IN TWO-RUNS-OR-LESS GAMES SINCE 2013
TEAM RECORD WIN %
New York-AL 405-316 .562
Los Angeles-NL 396-325 .549
Cleveland 373-306 .549
St. Louis 381-322 .542
Milwaukee 388-346 .529
AMED IS 4 REAL
AMED ROSARIO fell a home run shy of the cycle in Sunday’s contest, turning in his 17th career 4-hit game…with his 4 runs scored, he became the first Guardians player to have 4 hits and score 4 times in a game since STEVEN KWAN on April 10 of last season…Rosario’s 12 4-hit games since the start of 2021 lead MLB ahead of LAD’s Freddie Freeman (10)…the shortstop’s 33 triples since the start of 2018 also lead MLB during that span.
4-HIT GAMES, SINCE 2021
NAME TEAM # OF GAMES
Amed Rosario CLE 12
Freddie Freeman ATL/LAD 10
J.D. Martinez BOS/LAD 7
TONIGHT’S STARTER – 50 PEYTON BATTENFIELD RHP
BATTENFIELD’S MAJOR LEAGUE CAREER
W-L ERA G GS IP H R ER BB SO
2023 0-1 1.69 2 2 10.2 7 3 2 3 8
Career 0-1 1.69 2 2 10.2 7 3 2 3 8
BATTENFIELD AT HOME, MLB
W-L ERA G GS IP H R ER BB SO
2023 0-0 1.93 1 1 4.2 4 2 1 0 3
Career 0-0 1.93 1 1 4.2 4 2 1 0 3
TONIGHT’S START
The 25-year-old right-hander is making his third career start in the second contest of a 3-game set with the Colorado Rockies… it will be his second career start at Progressive Field after making his Major League Debut at home in a 4-3 defeat to New York-AL on April 11…he did not factor into the decision, allowing 2R/1ER over 4.2 innings…is making this start on an extended 5 days rest… became the 2nd Guardian player to make their debut in 2023 after
TIM HERRIN debuted on April 2 at Seattle…Battenfield got the call after AARON CIVALE went on the 15-day injured list with a strained left oblique…he was originally selected in the 9th round (286th overall) of the 2019 MLB Draft by the Houston Astros…was traded to Tampa Bay during the 2020 season and later traded to Cleveland for Jordan Luplow and DJ Johnson on July 30, 2021… he was on the roster during the 2022 season while the club was playing in Canada playing Toronto, but did not pitch.
LAST TIME OUT
He suffered his first career loss despite tossing a 6.0-inning quality start in a 1-0 defeat to Detroit in the second game of a doubleheader on April 18…Battenfield worked through 5.0 scoreless innings before giving up a solo home run to Riley Greene to open up the 6th inning…he is the first Cleveland starter to throw 6.0-or-more innings and allow 1-or-0 earned runs and suffer the loss since Cody Morris on September 18 of last season (6.0IP, 1ER).
ROAD TO THE SHOW
2022: Spent the season at AAA Columbus leading the International League and organization with 153.2 innings, it was the 4th-most in all of Minor League Baseball…he finished the season 4th in the International League with a 3.63 ERA (62ER/163.2IP)… threw 21.0 more innings pitched than anyone in the system…made his Triple-A debut in his 36th career game (142.1IP)
The right-hander posted a sub-3.94 ERA in each of the first five months of the season before posting a 7.48 ERA over 5 September starts…he earned International League Pitcher of the Week from 8/15-21 after throwing 6.0 scoreless innings with 8 strikeouts and 2 walks, it was hit fifth shutout start of the season.
2021: He combined to go 7-1 in 21G/19GS with a 2.53 ERA (29ER/103.0IP) while striking out 131 batters and walking 19 across two levels (A/AA) and two organizations…he did not allow a run over his first 17.2IP…was traded to Cleveland on July 30… at the time of the trade he was 5-0 with a 2.14 ERA (16ER/67.1IP) with 95 strikeouts and 12 walks in 14G/12GS.
2019: Across 14G/5GS he posted a 1.60 ERA (7ER/39.1IP) with 46 strikeouts and 15 walks…only went 3.0-or-more innings in one of his starts
MONTH BY MONTH
Owns a 2.70 ERA (9ER/30.0IP) with 22 strikeouts, 11 walks and a .189 opposing batting average (21-for-111) across 6 April starts during his Minor League career.
The righty has a 1.69 ERA (2ER/10.2IP) and is limited opposing batters to a .184 batting average (7-for-38) with 8 punchouts through his first 2 Major League starts in April.
BATTENFIELD SPLITS BY MONTH, MiLB CAREER
Month ERA G/GS IP ER
April 2.70 6/6 30.0 9
May 2.29 10/9 51.0 13
June 2.30 13/11 62.2 16
July 3.36 14/10 67.0 25
August 1.95 12/8 50.2 11
September 5.90 9/9 39.2 26
SLIP N’ SLIDE
Battenfield’s main weapon this season has been his slider as batters are hitting 0.087 (2-for-23) in at-bats ending with the pitch… all 8 of his strikeouts have come via the slider…he is utilizing it 52.3% of the time, mixing a 4-seam fastball and curveball as complementary pitches.
