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Thursday, October 10, 2024

Bullpen has gone from worst to better. Will it last?

Bud Black is relentlessly positive but is also a realist, especially about his pitching staff.

The Rockies manager knew in spring training that the team’s bullpen would be its weakest link. He was right.

As the Rockies entered the weekend with just 15 games remaining, the bullpen had the worst ERA (5.36), worst WHIP (1.54), and highest batting average against (.281) in the majors. Its 459 strikeouts were the fewest in the National League and third-fewest in the majors.

But, as Black likes to say, the worm might be turning, thanks to a cadre of young, hard-throwing pitchers and the rejuvenation of veteran Tyler Kinley. Colorado’s bullpen, historically awful earlier in the season, has been excellent in the final month of the season.

Entering the weekend, Rockies relievers had posted a 2.16 ERA with no home runs allowed over their last 12 games. The late-inning meltdowns that decimated the team earlier in the season have ceased. At least for now.

“Those are good signs, what we’re seeing out of the bullpen,” Black said during the Rockies’ recent 4-5 road trip. “It bodes well for the future. All these guys that have come up are doing a nice job keeping the ball down, changing speeds and using their secondary pitches, along with velocity. So it’s promising.”

But to see where the Rockies think they’re going, it’s necessary to remember where they were.

Earlier this season, the bullpen qualified for federal disaster relief.

The dam broke in Colorado’s 11-9 loss to the Dodgers on June 18 at Coors Field. The Rockies led 9-4 going into the ninth inning but gave up seven runs in the top half of the inning, marking the sixth time the Rockies entered the ninth inning with a lead and allowed five or more runs to lose that lead. That gave Colorado the dubious record for most blown leads of that type in a single season in baseball’s modern era.

It couldn’t get worse, right? But it did. On Aug. 27, at Coors, the lowly Marlins scored five runs in the top of the ninth inning to stun the Rockies, 9-8. At that point, the Rockies’ 7.44 ninth-inning ERA was the highest by any National League team in any inning over the last 50 years.

The previous record holder? The 2023 Rockies, who posted a 7.17 ERA in the ninth inning.

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