Colorado Rockies

Effective despite the Coors Effect

Published Aug. 17, 2015 12:16 p.m. ET

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Since 1993, there have been 58 no-hitters in the major leagues.

Also since 1993, exactly 13 Colorado Rockies have thrown shutouts in Colorado. As of yesterday, that is:

Yeah, I said 13. That's because the Rockies played in Mile High Stadium in 1993 and '94 and David Nied tossed a shutout in '93. Here's the whole list, Nied to Rusin:

David Nied Mark Thomason Roger Bailey Brian Bohanon Mike Hampton John Thomson Sun-Woo Kim Jason Jennings Jeff Francis Aaron Cook Jhoulys Chacin Tyler Matzek Chris Rusin.

Francis posted the highest Game Score: 91, including two hits, eight strikeouts, and zero walks. But my favorite is Aaron Cook's, in which he needed only 79 pitches to stymy the Padres seven years ago.

I don't know how far back Baseball-Reference.com's comprehensive pitch counts go, but it looks like approximately the late 1980s. And Cook's 74 is tied (with Carlos Silva) for the lowest in the data base, which might be approximately as miraculous as Hideo Nomo's no-hitter in Coors Field.

Speaking of visitors, there have significantly more shutouts tossed in Colorado by visiting pitchers:

Terry Mulholland Pedro Astacio Jose Rijo Pat Rapp Greg Maddux Tom Glavine Pat Rapp Hideo Nomo Tom Glavine Pedro Martinez Dave Mlicki Andy Ashby Roy Oswalt Barry Zito Kevin Milwood Clayton Kershaw

Holy crap, that's an impressive list. I think the message here is that the Rockies haven't really had any great starting pitchers to speak of, while other teams have.

Oh, and Tyler Matzek? The last Rocky before Chris Rusin to throw a shutout at home? While Rusin was whitewashing the Padres yesterday, Matzek was throwing a middle inning of relief for the Albuquerque Isotopes.

Pitching's hard. It's even harder when you're a Rocky. Godspeed, Chris Rusin.

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