Colorado Rockies 2016 Home Opening Series

The Colorado Rockies played in Coors Field for the first time this season as they took on the San Diego Padres for their home opening series. Nearly 50,000 Rockies fans flocked to the stadium on opening day, which fell on Friday, April 8.

Coors Field certainly benefited from the first home series falling on a weekend as the second and third games occurred on Saturday, April 9, and Sunday April 10, respectively. Coors Field hosted over 100,000 people over the baseball weekend and averaged MLB’s second best attendance per game during the opening weekend, with 42,000 attendees per game over the first two games.

The Rockies came into town after winning two out of three against the Arizona Diamondbacks. During that series win, a rookie phenom emerged and the offense looked strong. The Rockies hoped the trend would continue to their home opener, as they look to correct their sub .500 wining percentage at home from last season.

First Pitch in the 2016 Home Season for the Colorado Rockies was at 2:14 p.m., and while the trend for Trevor Story continued, the winning did not. The San Diego Padres came in to down (?)beaten and battered. They had just been swept in their first series, and to make matters worse, they failed to score a single run. Unfortunately for the Rockies, this was another trend that did not continue. At game’s end, the Rockies had given up 13 runs to the Padres, allowing eight combined RBI’s to Matt Kemp and Yangervis Solarte.

The Rockies offense was not necessarily the problem with this game, as they put up six runs and nine hits. Trevor Story continued his historic start to the season by hitting two home runs and driving in four runs. This loss was on the shoulders of the pitching staff, literally. Of the five pitchers that entered the game, all have ERA’s over 10, including Jordan Lyles, who could not make it out of the fourth inning. The staff allowed 18 hits and five walks, during the 13-6 loss.

Game two started a little after six, on Saturday evening, April 9. The Padres’ offensive tear was not over after Friday night, as they put up a whooping, 16 runs against the Rockies on Saturday. Matt Kemp looked like Dodgers MVP Matt Kemp, as he hit 2 more homeruns both given up by Jorge De La Rosa. De La Rosa gave up three total home runs that game, totaling seven runs in four innings as he collected his first loss of the season. Trevor Story fell down to earth as he struck out three times and went one for five. For the second straight game the pitching staff failed the Rockies, allowing a total of 19 hits and 16 runs, as the Rockies fell to the San Diego Padres 16-3.

On Sunday, April 10, the astronomical, offensive scoring stopped, and the scores looked more like baseball scores during the third and final game of the series. Chad Bettis pitched a quality start, giving the Rockies a seven inning performance, allowing six hits and only one earned run. Sunday’s offense for the Rockies came from power as Carlos Gonzalez hit two home runs, and Story added another to his rookie year collection; Ryan Raburn and Nolan Arenado also added homers of their own to the derby. Good pitching combined with opportunistic power saved the series sweep for the Rockies as they grabbed a final game victory with a score of 6-3.

All in all, the Rockies stand at .500 after their first two series. While it may not seem great, it is easy to forget there are still 146 more games left to play. The real story that came out of opening week was Trevor Story. Story has already surpassed his yearly projection for home runs from Sports Illustrated, with seven home runs in six games. He has hit multiple home runs in multiple games, and he is only six games into his first Major League season, at the age of 23.  These are mammoth-sized home runs with incredible exit speed that can reach distances of 440 plus feet. If for no other reason, tune in to ROOT sports this season to catch the powerful swing of Trevor Story.