The Colorado Rockies (14-22, 5th NL West) play the third and final game in a three-game set on the road at PNC Park Wednesday against the Pittsburgh Pirates (21-15, 1st NL Central). Colorado was defeated by Pittsburgh on Monday in the first game of this series 2-0, which snapped a two-game winning streak for the Rockies, but Colorado has won six of the last eight. Pittsburgh's victory on Monday snapped a seven-game losing streak for the Pirates and kept them in first place in the National League Central, a half game ahead of Milwaukee. Colorado will play without six pitchers as well as position players Sean Bouchard and Brendan Rodgers. Pittsburgh will play without six pitchers as well as position players Oneil Cruz and Ji-Man Choi.
The Colorado Rockies are last in the National League West and much of that is due to problems on the pitching mound. Colorado has a team ERA of 4.89 which is 25th and is also 25th in WHIP at 1.43. Colorado's starting rotation has had 10 Quality Starts in 36 games which is 18th and the pitching staff is allowing opponents to average .265 at the plate which is 26th. Ryan Feltner is the leader in strikeouts for Colorado with 33 and Kyle Freeland is the leader in wins with three. Colorado will hand the ball to Antonio Senzatela on Wednesday. This season the right-hander is 0-1 with an ERA of 1.80 and 3 strikeouts.
Colorado's strength this season has been at the plate, but the Rockies must improve nonetheless. Colorado is 13th in team batting average at .254, but drops to 17th in slugging percentage with .391 and 19th in on base percentage at .318. These numbers have produced 152 runs which is only 16th and playing half their games at Coors Field, the Rockies should be scoring more. C.J. Cron is leading Colorado in home runs with six and Kris Bryant is second with five. Elias Diaz is the leader in RBI with 18 and Cron is second with 16. Colorado has hit 74 doubles, one triple and 30 home runs in 36 games.