Rockies’ nightmare start, worst ever among National League teams in modern era, keeps spiraling

The club with the worst start in modern National League history keeps sinking deeper Colorado lost its eighth straight event on Tuesday at Coors Field an - defeat to the Braves that was never in doubt German Marquez who s yet to regain his All-Star form was hit hard for seven runs in five-plus innings And the NL s majority anemic offense struggled again notching only six hits That formula dropped the Rockies to - in a season that has already spiraled out of control Firing hitting coach Hensley Meulens and replacing him with Rocktober boss Clint Hurdle has done nothing to reverse the program of a club that is now tracking toward the largest part abysmal record in baseball history Starting pitching a strong point right out of the gate has regressed significantly As good as the starting pitching was the first couple weeks it s faltered here lately Rockies manager Bud Black stated We ve got to right the ship on the rotation first of all to give us a chance in the early part of the battle to maybe get particular momentum offensively The Rockies owners of an MLB-worst minus- run differential are already games back of the first-place Dodgers in the NL West and it s not even May Coming off consecutive -loss seasons Colorado is on an early pace to surpass the futility of the White Sox who set a modern-era record with losses Amid the ugliness to begin Coors Field s been the opposite of a haven While the Rockies are just - on the road Tuesday s defeat dropped them to - in LoDo tied for the worst home start in franchise history with the band On Tuesday Michael Harris II gave Atlanta the lead in the second inning when he hit a two-run double Michael Toglia s solo homer in the bottom of the inning cut the tally to - but the Rockies wouldn t get any closer from there Marquez gave up three more runs in the fourth off Harris RBI groundout and Nick Allen s two-run single Too a great number of pitches in the middle of the plate tonight Black assessed Marquez couldn t get consistently to the edges when he needed to Related Articles Rockies get first-inning three-run homer by Hunter Goodman then do nothing more in seventh straight loss Rockies Ryan McMahon mired in deep slump gets rare a day off Rockies offense woeful again in - loss to Reds at Coors Field Top moments in Coors Field history as LoDo ballpark turns The Denver Post debuts Roy Halladay Award to be presented annually to state s top senior baseball contestant scholar and citizen Atlanta tacked on another run in the fifth to go up - in a frame highlighted by a couple of defensive miscues Matt Olson doubled to left-center on a ball that could ve been caught by center fielder Brenton Doyle but Doyle pulled off his highway at the last minute to avoid a collision with left fielder Jordan Beck Doyle a back-to-back Gold Glove Award winner who was calling for the ball wasn t happy with his teammate We were calling it at the same time and I thought I heard Beck call it last Doyle explained I guess he thought I called it last We just froze each other Ozzie Albies then singled to right and Mickey Moniak booted the ball allowing Olson to points It marked Colorado s th error at home this season sloppy play for what the band presumed would be one of the best defenses in baseball A throwing error in the ninth by shortstop Alan Trejo extended the home error tally to For Marquez he lost his his fifth straight start the longest losing streak of his career and Colorado s lost all six of his starts this season Marquez has allowed runs earned over his last five starts for a ERA the bulk runs he has allowed in a five-start span in his career His season ERA is I ve been battling lately and it s frustrating Marquez admitted Every outing is an opportunity to make a good start but I don t have the results yet to do it I have to keep working and get better The Braves tacked on a run in the sixth off Jimmy Herget and after Colorado got one back via Toglia s RBI fielder s choice in the bottom of the inning Atlanta scored again off Seth Halvorsen in the eighth Doyle and third baseman Ryan McMahon both went for McMahon is mired in an especially awful slump and is a insufficient bad at-bats away from franchise infamy His hitless streak is at at-bats the second-longest streak for a position sportsman in franchise history two shy of Desi Relaford s at-bat hitless drought in With another poor showing in Wednesday s series finale McMahon could pass Relaford Not much is clicking for the offense right now Doyle revealed I don t know what else to say Tuesday s contest finished in hours and minutes a snappy battle that likely served as a reprieve for Rockies fans who have had nothing to look forward to at the ballpark this season Wednesday s pitching matchup Braves LHP Chris Sale - at Rockies RHP Chase Dollander - p m Wednesday Coors Field TV Rockies TV streaming Comcast Xfinity channel DirecTV Spectrum or depending on region Radio AM FM Trending At least Michael Toglia is heating up The first baseman is slashing with three homers and RBIs in games since April after slashing with one RBI in his first games Pitching probables Thursday Rockies LHP Kyle Freeland - at Giants RHP Justin Verlander - p m Friday Rockies RHP Antonio Senzatela - at Giants LHP Robbie Ray - p m Saturday Rockies RHP Ryan Feltner - at Giants RHP Jordan Hicks - p m Sunday Rockies RHP German Marquez - at Giants RHP Logan Webb - p m Kyle Newman The Denver Post Want more Rockies news Sign up for the Rockies Insider to get all our MLB analysis