There will be plenty of local interest in Wednesday night's Rockies-Dodgers game at Coors Field in Denver. And not just because Shohei Ohtani is on the mound for the reigning World Series champions. But there will be eyes trained on Ohtani's counterpart as former Champaign Central standout Tanner Gordon will take the mound for Colorado with the Dodgers the 14th different MLB team Gordon has faced in what will be his 17th career start. News-Gazette sports writer Joe Vozzelli takes a by-the-numbers look ahead of Gordon's latest starting nod:
7.98
The earned run average for Tanner Gordon ahead of Wednesday night's ninth start of the 2025 season. The Champaign native has now logged 381/3 innings so far with nine walks and 24 strikeouts all while allowing 60 hits for a mark of 1.80 walks plus hits per innings pitched rate. Gordon has been slightly better in home games in 2025 despite the high altitude at Coors Field with a 3-2 record and 5.54 ERA in his five home starts.
3
The number of different teams Gordon has beaten in his still-young MLB career. The 27-year-old is 3-5 this season, having earned wins against New York Yankees in May, the St. Louis Cardinals in July and most recently the Arizona Diamondbacks this past Friday night in Denver. Gordon went five innings and permitted three runs on five hits with one walk and two strikeouts in the Rockies' 4-3 victory against the visiting Diamondbacks.
220
The shutout drought Gordon played a key role in ending last month. Colorado had gone 220 games without recording a shutout before Gordon helped quiet the Cardinals' bats on July 23 during a 6-0 victory in Denver. At the time, it was the third longest such drought in MLB history. Gordon pitched six full innings, allowing four hits and three walks, before relief pitchers Jimmy Herget and Tyler Kinley finished off the shutout.
14-15
The record the Rockies had after the All-Star break entering Tuesday night's matchup at Coors Field with the Dodgers. That might not seem like much. But Colorado is having a historically bad season, as the Rockies were 22-74 at the break. Since then, Colorado has been much improved, and the Rockies' 4-3 win on Monday night against Los Angeles on Warming Bernabel's walk-off single was Colorado's fourth victory in a row.
10
Shohei Ohtani will be making his 10th start of the 2025 season on Wednesday night. The Japanese two-way star made his return to the mound in June -- 21 months after undergoing a second major surgery on his right elbow -- and has yet to record a win in 2025. But Ohtani does have a 3.47 ERA in 231/3 innings pitched with a .236 opponents' batting average. At the plate, Ohtani was batting .285 with 43 home runs and 81 RBI entering Tuesday.
5.1
Average runs scored per game by the Dodgers ahead of Tuesday's games. Only the MLB-leading Brewers had scored more runs this season than Los Angeles with Milwaukee bringing across 649 runs. The Dodgers were right on the heels of the NL Central leaders, however, with Dave Roberts' club plating 643 runs in the first 125 games of the season. L.A. has been a sub-.500 team since the start of July, though.