Colorado Rockies On SI

Rockies Starting Pitcher Who Has Been Surprisingly Excellent Recently

The Colorado Rockies have someone to get excited about in their pitching staff.

Maddy Dickens

Jun 15, 2023; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; A detailed view of a Colorado Rockies hat and glove on the bench against the Atlanta Braves in the ninth inning at Truist Park.
Jun 15, 2023; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; A detailed view of a Colorado Rockies hat and glove on the bench against the Atlanta Braves in the ninth inning at Truist Park. / Brett Davis-Imagn Images
In this story:

The pitching staff for the Colorado Rockies this season has been...well...not the best. They are the worst in baseball across the board, including ERA, earned runs, runs, total hits, etc. Even though the pitching staff doesn't have overall numbers that one wants to see, they have had some moments of brilliance lately, and that is a huge positive that the club can look at, especially with Tanner Gordon.

If you have been following Gordon at all, it would be impossible to believe that he has turned things around lately, but he has. To start the month of August, he made two starts. Between those two starts (against the Toronto Blue Jays and the Arizona Diamondbacks) he allowed 23 total hits and 17 earned runs in just over seven innings. Yikes. But that was a real wakeup call, apparently, for the 27-year-old.

Gordon's Last Three Starts

Gordon getting ready to release a white baseball off of the dirt mound in a solid grey uniform with black letterin
Thomas Shea-Imagn Images

Since his disastrous outing against the Diamondbacks in early August, he made it his personal mission to redeem himself, and he has done that. His first start after the 10-hit outing was actually against Arizona. He cut the number of hits in half and allowed just three runs to take the win, which was the start of a four-game winning streak for Colorado.

Now his next time to the mound was in their series against last year's world champions- the Los Angeles Dodgers. Gordon was matched up with Shohei Ohtani and it was hard for insiders (and everyone) to believe that he was coming out of this on top, but he did. He finished six full innings and held the Dodgers to one lone score. Incredible. The Rockies went on to split the four-game series.

The former sixth-round pick didn't get much of an easier matchup in his most recent start; in fact, it was probably more of a challenge. The Rockies just opened a series against the Houston Astros (in Texas) and Gordon was facing off with arguably one of the best pitchers in the American League- Hunter Brown. Brown was 10-5 in 26 starts with a 2.37 ERA. He is now 10-6 after facing off with Gordon. The righty was able to finish six full innings where he struck out five and held Houston to one earned run.

There is no need to look at Gordon's numbers from the entire season (or last year's for that matter). The most important thing is that he is improving and that is all the team can ask for. He is looking like the real deal lately and it will be fun to see how he finishes out the year.

Recommended Articles

feed

Published |Modified
Maddy Dickens
MADDY DICKENS

Maddy Dickens resides in Loveland, Colorado. She grew up with two older brothers, where their lives revolved around sports. She earned a master's degree in business management from Tarleton State University while simultaneously playing basketball and competing in rodeo at the collegiate level. She successfully parlayed a reserve national championship into a professional rodeo career and now stays involved in upper-level athletics by writing for On SI on several different MLB teams' pages, along with some NCAA sites.

Home/News