At least the 2023 Colorado Rockies can say that they made history. It just was not the type of history they would have wanted to make.
Saturday was yet another moment in a painful season. The Rockies held a 2-1 lead heading into the sixth inning, only to see the Orioles comes back for a 5-4 victory. If the end result seemed familiar to Rockies fans, it should have – the Rockies became the first team in the modern era to hold a lead in the sixth inning or later for six consecutive games, only to lose all six.
Colorado Rockies bullpen woes nothing new
There have been multiple culprits for this streak. Chris Flexen was sent out for the sixth inning on Saturday and had nothing left. Brent Suter has three of those losses, allowing eight runs, five earned, while recording just four outs. Justin Lawrence has struggled in the closer role. Matt Koch has taken the other two losses in this run, allowing six runs in 2.2 innings. Scoring an average of just over four runs per game did not help either.
Pitching has always been a problem with the Rockies. There have been a few exceptions to the rule, but there is a reason that Coors Field is where pitchers go to die. No matter what the Rockies do, they just cannot find arms. Throwing money at the problem has not worked and they cannot develop pitchers.
One has to imagine that will have to change at some point. Those random seasons when they catch lightning in a bottle and find a competent pitcher could converge. Until that happens, the Rockies will be known as a team where pitching goes to die and unfortunate history will be made.
The Colorado Rockies made history on Saturday. Considering their continued pitching woes, that type of history was expected.
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