The Colorado Rockies (29-46, 5th NL West) play the third and final game of a three-game series at Great American Ballpark on Wednesday when visiting the Cincinnati Reds (38-35, 1st NL Central). Colorado was defeated by Cincinnati in the first game of the series on Monday 5-4 and the Rockies have lost six straight. Cincinnati won its 9th straight when defeating Colorado Monday and leapfrogged Milwaukee into first place in the National League Central by a half-game. Colorado will play without five pitchers as well as position players Charlie Blackmon, Sean Bouchard, Kris Bryant, C.J. Cron and Brendan Rodgers. Cincinnati will play without 10 pitchers and position player Wil Myers.
The Colorado Rockies have a team ERA of 5.44 which is next to last in baseball and the Rockies are also next to last in WHIP at 1.53. Colorado's starting rotation has 17 Quality Starts which is 26th and the pitching staff is allowing opposing hitters to average .278, which is the worst in baseball. Wednesday’s starting pitcher Kyle Freeland is leading the Rockies in strikeouts with 50. This season the left-hander is 4-8 with an ERA of 4.48.
Although Colorado is playing without top players such as Charlie Blackmon, Kris Bryant, C.J. Cron and others, the Rockies are holding their own at the plate. Colorado is 11th in team batting average at .256, 20th in on base percentage with .317 and 14th in slugging percentage at .400. Colorado has scored 328 runs which is 13th. Ryan McMahon has 12 home runs and 41 RBI which lead Colorado in both, while Elias Diaz is second in home runs with eight and in RBI with 36. Colorado has hit 159 doubles, 12 triples and just 62 home runs in 75 games.