WASHINGTON -- The Rockies entered the season believing their starting pitching would be a strength, with veteran starters lining the rotation, many with experience pitching at altitude. But that hasn’t been the case early on, not in the aggregate. Saturday’s doubleheader split with the Nationals displayed how much their success hinges on what their starters deliver, even away from Coors Field.\n\nThe Rockies experienced both ends of that spectrum Saturday, rallying to capture Game 2, 3-2, after dropping Game 1, 13-7, at Nationals Park. The quality start right-hander
Signed to a one-year, $3 million free agent contract during Spring Training, Kuhl has emerged as the Rockies’ most consistent starter in the first half, lowering his ERA to 3.56 through nine starts. That’s best in Colorado’s rotation by nearly a full run. The Rockies are 12-5 when they get a quality start and 9-20 when they don’t, and 5-14 in their last 19 games overall after beginning the year 16-11.\n\n“When I have both breaking balls going, that’s when I’m at my best,” Kuhl said. “I can say I want to go out and give length, but if I don’t give a good performance, it really doesn’t matter. At the end of the day, it’s about executing pitches and going from there.”
At the onset of the Memorial Day weekend the Rockies would spend in the nation’s capital, Black emphatically rejected the possibility of the struggling Márquez not making his next turn through the rotation, guaranteeing such radical change was not on the horizon for Colorado’s staff. The Rockies simply don’t have the luxury of letting a frontline-type starter figure things out in a lower-pressure environment. Besides Kuhl, few of their other arms are providing it, and depth is at a premium with
All told, the Rockies pitching staff ranks second-worst in baseball by ERA a little ways past the season’s quarter pole, last in bullpen ERA and fifth-worst in rotation ERA, their starters pitching nearly a full run better at Coors Field (4.68 ERA) than away from altitude (5.49). The bright spots are Kuhl and set-up man