The Colorado Rockies are coming off a road trip in which they went 1-7 between a trip to Mexico City, Miami, and Pittsburgh. They were swept twice and lost via the walk-off three separate times against three of the most struggling teams in the league. Their struggling offense has proven a formidable hurdle to overcome as they are set to face off against their division foe San Francisco Giants for the first time this season.

Here are a few things to watch in Colorado.

Pitching Probables

5/7: Dakota Hudson (0-5, 5.93 ERA) vs. Kyle Harrison (2-1, 7.39 ERA)

5/8: Peter Lambert (2-1, 5.66 ERA) vs. Jordan Hicks (2-1, 1.89 ERA)

5/9: Cal Quantrill (1-3, 4.31 ERA) vs. Keaton Winn (3-4, 4.41 ERA)

Giant problems

San Francisco has proven to be a tough customer for the Rockies. In their last 20 games dating back to 2022, the Rockies are 4-16  with three of those wins coming in a final series against the Giants in 2023. Last season San Francisco hit .284/.366/.469 against the Rockies with 16 home runs. Their 73 scored runs were more than they had against any other team in the league. They scored 41 of those runs in seven games at Coors Field. Players like Mike Yastrzemski have found success against the Rockies despite middling numbers the rest of the year and with a new-looking offense that features Matt Chapman, Jorge Soler, and Jung-Hoo Lee there is bound to be some trouble for Rockies pitching.

Missing in action

The Rockies offense ranks as one of the worst in baseball as strikeouts continue to run rampant. They rank 27th in runs scored, 26th in home runs, 24th in OPS with the third most strikeouts and tied for fourth fewest walks. Despite decent performances from Ryan McMahon and Elias Diaz and hot starts from Ezequiel Tovar and Brenton Doyle (though both have cooled off), the offense continues to be a major issue as a whole. While they are prone to feel more comfortable at home, the inability to put the ball in play has plagued them when it comes to scoring runs. Additionally, teams have seemed to find ways to mitigate the dangers of Coors Field to attack the Rockies lineup and prevent runs rather easily. The Giants are a decent pitching team that could prove as a continued hindrance to the Rockies as they try to have some sort of momentum and rhythm at the plate.

Mike Honcho’s home debut

Jordan Beck’s first week in the big leagues hasn’t exactly gone well for the Rockies’ number four prospect in their system. After a two-hit debut in his first game in Miami, he has just one other hit in his 23 at-bats with the big league club. He has fallen victim to 11 strikeouts and has yet to draw a walk or hit anything for extra bases. While he has shown solid defense, the bat that was dominating the minors has not shown up quite yet. Tuesday will be his first opportunity to play in front of the home fans and hopefully make a good impression.