After winning both of the first two series in their penultimate homestand of the 2021 season, the Braves are set to take on the Rockies for the first of three games this week.
While the Rockies still have a very bad road record — one that sees them currently 30 games under .500 away from Coors Field — they actually proved last week that they have the potential to embarrass someone on a road trip. They knocked off the Phillies three times in four games and while us Braves fans are very grateful for their help, it would be great if the Braves took care of business this week and made short work out of the Rockies and did so starting tonight.
With that being said, I certainly don’t anticipate this being an easy night or easy series, in general. The Braves may have gotten the job done against the Nationals and the Marlins but it certainly wasn’t a cake walk for the home team. They may be in for another tough matchup as the Rockies will be sending Jon Gray to the mound as their starter for this evening. As usual, you have to take a look at the home/away splits for Colorado pitchers and Gray is very interesting in that regard.
At home, he’s currently sitting on a 3.79 ERA and a 4.28 FIP, while on the road it shakes out to a 4.68 ERA and a 3.63 FIP. His peripherals bear out the fact that his Coors Field production probably isn’t his real representation. Most importantly in my opinion, his HR/9 and BB percentage are much lower on the road (0.78 road HR/9 and 8.2 percent walk rate) than they are at home (1.22, 10.1 percent, respectively). He’s not exactly a shut down pitcher when he leaves Coors Field, but he’s one that can keep the damage at a minimum while he’s on the mound so that his offense can eventually come to life.
The man that’s being tasked with keeping Colorado’s offense from doing any damage is Touki Toussaint. For Touki, the past two months have been defined by some pretty beautiful peaks in August and some very disappointing valleys in September. Touki had a two-start run in mid-August where he looked every bit like the type of pitcher that sticks around in a rotation. He sandwiched a scoreless relief stint against the Giants with two starts where he either got completely shelled or it took all he could muster just to get to the fourth inning. The former inning where he got bopped was in Colorado against these Rockies — hopefully the change in scenery results in a change in outcome for Touki as he gets another crack at the Rockies,
While the Phillies may not be playing good baseball at the moment, Colorado taking three out of four in Philadelphia could be dangerous as far as the Braves are concerned. The Rockies have had a terrible go of it away from Coors Field this season but now they could finally have some confidence that they can do well on the road. They now have an opportunity to throw a wrench in another playoff hopeful’s season and I’d imagine the Braves are going to have a massive task on their hands as they attempt to thwart Colorado’s efforts and keep on taking care of business, themselves. The March to October continues!
Game Info
Game Date/Time: Tuesday, September 14, 7:20 p.m. ET
Location: Truist Park, Atlanta, Georgia
TV: Bally Sports South
Streaming: MLB.tv
Radio: 680 AM / 93.7 FM The Fan, WNNX 100.5, Braves Radio Network