The Colorado Rockies (13-21, 5th NL West) play the first game of a three-game series on the road Wednesday when visiting PNC Park to face the Pittsburgh Pirates (20-14, 1st NL Central). Colorado defeated the New York Mets 5-2 on Saturday and the Rockies have won five of the last six but remain mired in last place in the National League West. Pittsburgh was defeated by the Toronto Blue Jays on Saturday 8-2 and the Pirates have lost six straight, yet remain first in the National League Central but have had their lead whittled to just 1 ½ games. Colorado will play without seven pitchers as well as position players Sean Bouchard and Brendan Rodgers. Pittsburgh will play without six pitchers as well as position players Ji-Man Choi and Oneil Cruz.
The Colorado Rockies are 26th in ERA at 4.93 and 25th in WHIP at 1.43. Colorado's starting rotation has only nine Quality Starts which is 20th in baseball and the pitching staff is allowing opposing hitters to .265 at the plate which is 26th. Ryan Feltner is the leader in strikeouts for Colorado with 30. Colorado will hand the ball to Kyle Freeland on Monday. The left-hander this season is 3-3 with an ERA of 3.76 and 26 strikeouts. Freeland’s three wins and 26 strikeouts leads the Rockies.
Colorado is 12th in team batting average at .254 but drops slightly to 17th in slugging percentage at .387 and 18th in on base percentage with .318. Colorado has scored 139 runs which is 22nd in baseball. C.J, Cron is the leader in home runs for Colorado with six and is second in RBI with 16, while Elias Diaz is the leader i n RBI with 18. The Rockies have lacked power, with 69 doubles but only one triple and 27 home runs in 34 games played.