AP Photo, Ben Margot
In what was his last start of the 2016 season, Tyler Chatwood left everyone with a good taste in their mouth and will go into the offseason with a lot of good to build off of. Chatwood pitched eight great innings and allowed only three hits and two walks. None of those runners crossed the plate and it set the Rockies up for a shut out win.
Tyler was pitching in his first full season since being with an injury way back in 2014. Even before that, Chatwood had never made more than 20 starts except in one season and that came way back in 2011 when he was with the Angels. This year saw Chatwood make great strides, particularly on the road, for what was his best season in the Bigs yet. He will finish with 158 innings under his belt and a career high in strike outs at 117. This last start is certainly indicative of how Chatwood pitched in the majority of his starts on the road, but with a full offseason ahead of him, Chatwood will definitely be looking to improve on his home stats.
In nearly identical amounts of starts at home and the road, Chatwood’s splits could not be more different. On the road, Tyler had a 1.69 ERA, a .190 batting average against, and an opponent OPS of only .559. His home starts were very different and that really hurt Chatwood’s overall statistics and the Rockies chances of winning when playing at home. Opponents had a .303 batting average and .872 OPS. His ERA was a whopping 6.12 in what was an obvious struggle at home.
Regardless of Chatwood’s splits, he pitched terrific in his final game and will have a season of work under his belt to build off this offseason, rather than a season of injury time. While the Rockies offense did not rout the Giants by any means, they scored two runs which was one more than Chatwood needed. In the fourth, Nolan Arenado tallied his 130th RBI of the season and in the seventh Parra earned an RBI to give the Rockies the two run lead.
The bullpen came on for a split save as Boone Logan and Adam Ottavino took out the Giants in the ninth. It was not without some drama as Boone allowed two hits that surrounded two strikeouts. Ottavino came on with runners at first and third, but neither runner would cross the plate as Buster Posey grounded out to end the game.
The loss for the Giants didn’t mean them losing a playoff spot as the Cardinals lost also, but it did put their magic number at only four. Any combination of Cardinals losses or Giants wins will give the Giants a postseason chance, giving hope to the even year magic that the Giants have seemed to have for the past six years.
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