The Colorado Rockies made the wrong kind of history on Monday.
Following a scoreless fourth inning against the Los Angeles Dodgers, Colorado extended its streak of consecutive innings without a run to 31, the longest in franchise history.
The Rockies (3-12) haven't scored since five runners crossed the plate in the bottom of the eighth inning of their 7-2 home win over the Brewers on April 10.
Most recently, they were shut out in a three-game sweep by the Padres (13-3), being outscored 16-0.
Since the start of its series against San Diego and through four innings Monday against the Dodgers, Colorado has 10 hits (six singles) in its last 102 at-bats (.098 batting average).
This season, the Rockies are 23rd in team batting average (.218). Per FanGraphs data, they've been solid when making contact, ranking ninth in batting average on balls in play (BAPIP) at .300. However, they rarely do so, leading the majors in strikeout rate (29.3 percent).
According to Stathead research, the Rockies are in danger of becoming the 15th team in MLB history to be held without a run in four consecutive games and the first since the 2017 Royals (Aug. 25-28). They went down in order on seven pitches in the top of the fifth against the Dodgers to run their scoreless streak to 32 innings.
Colorado has quickly torpedoed its season that began with low expectations. The Rockies were No. 28 in ESPN's preseason projections, with an estimated 57-105 record and zero percent chance of winning the World Series.
As bad as the forecast was, the reality has somehow been worse. The Rockies are already an MLB-high 9.5 games out of first in their division and a game worse than the White Sox (4-11), who set the record for most losses in a single season last year (121), for the league's worst record.
The season is less than a month old, and it's already effectively over for the Rockies. But as bad as they've been, a long season awaits. The misery is just getting started.
