Rockies pitchers ranked 27th in the majors in strikeouts entering Thursday’s play, averaging just 6.04 per game.
They got just two Ks during their 9-7 win over the Nationals on Thursday afternoon. What’s been saving the Rockies’ bacon in the early going are double plays. It’s their bread and butter. Colorado has turned 40 of them, including 36 groundball double plays, both the most in the majors.
Rockies pitchers induced two key double plays Thursday, one by reliever Jhouyls Chacin to diffuse the Nationals’ rally in the fifth and another by reliever Robert Stephenson to limit the damage in a two-run seventh.