Colorado Rockies Continue to Strike Out at Historic Rate in Latest Loss

After striking out 16 times against the Milwaukee Brewers on Saturday, the Colorado Rockies moved up the all-time MLB leaderboards in all the wrong ways.

Sep 6, 2024; Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA; Colorado Rockies shortstop Ezequiel Tovar (14) hits a double in the sixth inning against the Milwaukee Brewers at American Family Field. / Benny Sieu-Imagn Images

From start to finish Saturday night, the Colorado Rockies couldn't help but strike out.

The Milwaukee Brewers' pitching staff got out of a jam in the first inning by punching out Ryan McMahon, and it didn't stop there. All three Rockies outs in the top of the second came by way of the K, as was the case in the third.

The Rockies hung around thanks to solo home runs by McMahon and Sam Hilliard, but the Brewers held on to win 5-2. By the time it was all said and done, Colorado had racked up 16 strikeouts.

Jake Cave was the only member of the starting lineup not to strike out, but Hunter Goodman pinch hit for him and struck out twice. Michael Toglia and Brendan Rodgers struck out three times apiece.

That makes 75 strikeouts for the Rockies over their last five games.

According to OptaSTATS, that is the second-most strikeouts by a team over any five-game span in MLB's modern era. The Brewers still own the record with 77 strikeouts across five games back in 2017.

Over their last five games, the Rockies have struck out 75 times.

That's the second-most strikeouts by a team over any five-game span in the modern era, trailing only the Brewers' 77 in the 2017 season. pic.twitter.com/Ghh2mw1Ckf

— OptaSTATS (@OptaSTATS) September 8, 2024

The Rockies don't actually lead MLB in strikeouts this season – that title belongs to the Seattle Mariners – but they do rank dead last in the National League.

Shortstop-of-the-future Ezequiel Tovar is up to 178 strikeouts, beating out the 166 from his rookie campaign in 2023. McMahon, an All-Star, ranks second on the team with 162, while Brenton Doyle, Toglia and Rodgers have all surged well past 100 as well.

Colorado is flirting with its worst record in franchise history at 53-90, tracking to finish last in the NL West for the third year in a row. If the Rockies go 5-14 or worse to round out the season, they will post a worse winning percentage than they did in 2023 – or any other year since their inception in 1993, for that matter.

The Rockies and Brewers have a rubber mach scheduled for 2:10 p.m. ET on Sunday.

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