Colorado's issues run deeper than one banged-up lineup. Lorenzen has been one of the worst regulars in baseball this season, and the Rockies as a whole are still hunting for their first signature stretch of the year. The gap between these two rosters shows up everywhere from the standings to the injury report, and the sportsbooks have noticed.
Give the Rockies some credit for the last week. They put up 14 and 15 runs in back-to-back games against the Marlins and Giants, a reminder that the young core — Ethan Holliday, Zac Veen, Yanquiel Fernandez — can occasionally get hot all at once. But that offense has also been streaky enough to lose the very next game each time, and Monday's 8-7 loss to the Dodgers fit the pattern: score plenty, still find a way to lose.
Lorenzen's last time out was ugly — 4.1 innings, 4 earned runs and 6 walks against Miami, the kind of start that's fueled real speculation he could get squeezed out of the rotation before the trade deadline. Wrobleski, meanwhile, is coming off an 11-strikeout, no-walk gem against the A's. That's about as wide a gap as you'll find between two starters in the same game, and it's a big reason the Dodgers are prohibitive favorites here.
None of this changes the bigger picture. The Dodgers are chasing a historic pace at 60-32, and this series is one more chance to pad the NL West lead. The Rockies are just trying to find something — anything — to build on before the calendar flips to August.