At the Memorial Day milestone of the MLB season, the Rockies are struggling on the mound and at the plate.

After Sunday’s 9-1 loss in Arizona against the Diamondbacks, Colorado stands at 20-34 on the season. While the franchise is currently going through a tough stretch (3-8 over its last 11 games), it’s still a step up from where the Rockies were last season, when the team didn’t earn its 20^th win of the season until July 3.

So what’s going wrong for the Rockies right now? Let’s start on the mound.

Pitching

The Rockies worked this offseason to put together pitching depth. Now that plan is being pushed to the limit.

With Jose Quintana leaving Sunday’s start in Arizona in the second inning, Colorado’s rotation has quickly become full of injuries and question marks.

Quintana’s left elbow discomfort adds his name to the walking wounded for the Rockies rotation, joining Ryan Feltner (right ulnar nerve inflammation) and Chase Dollander (right elbow sprain) as pitchers who have had their seasons impacted by injuries.

Add those to Kyle Freeland (11.21 ERA over his four May starts) and Michael Lorenzen (9.15 ERA in his four May starts) and there aren’t many positives to take from the rotation this month.

In May, Colorado’s starters are 2-13 with an overall ERA of 8.26, the highest mark of any MLB team. That’s a number that doesn’t bode well as the Rockies prepare to open a three-game series at Chavez Ravine against the Los Angeles Dodgers on Monday night.

How bad has it been lately for Colorado’s pitching? Tomoyuki Sugano’s outing Friday night in Arizona (6 2/3 innings and two runs allowed) gave the Rockies their first quality start since Quintana went six innings and allowed one run May 1 against the Atlanta Braves. Sugano’s outing snapped a streak of 18 consecutive starts without a quality start by a Colorado pitcher, the third-longest drought in franchise history and the longest since a 21-game stretch June 5-28, 2012.

While Rockies manager Warren Schaeffer and president of baseball operations Paul DePodesta have been insistent that Colorado isn’t going to rush prospects to Denver, the time may be coming when young arms will have to step in and eat innings.

If there is good news, it is that Feltner looked solid in his Triple-A rehab start on Sunday afternoon in Las Vegas, going five innings and striking out six while scattering six hits and allowing just one run. It was his second rehab start, meaning he could rejoin the Rockies later in the week, perhaps starting on Friday night at home against the San Francisco Giants.

However, the next three days against the Dodgers will be interesting to watch. Outside of Freeland’s scheduled start on Tuesday, Colorado’s starting plans are in flux.

The Rockies have ridden long relievers in recent games, including Zach Agnos and Tanner Gordon, but whether Colorado has enough arms with length to get to Thursday’s off day remains to be seen.

And no, the Rockies have no plans to bring Antonio Senzatela back into the rotation.

Hitting

This year’s roster won’t be confused with the Blake Street Bombers.

Colorado hasn’t hit a home run in seven of its last eight games, with only a TJ Rumfield shot on Saturday night keeping the Rockies from setting a new franchise record for most consecutive games without a homer.

Part of that stretch includes five games without a home run at Coors Field, marking the first time since May 9-13, 2017, that the Rockies haven’t hit one over the fence at home.

While the home run numbers are among the lowest of any MLB team, Schaeffer told reporters in Arizona that perhaps too much is being made of the lack of recent power from his team.

“You don’t need to win by hitting home runs,” Schaeffer said on Saturday night. “You win by doing a lot of different things. We won a game (Friday) night without hitting a homer — I’ll take that 162 times.”

Right now, the Rockies will take a win by any means necessary, but perhaps the most concerning number when it comes to Colorado’s lack of homers is who hasn’t been hitting them.

This year, Mickey Moniak (12) and Hunter Goodman (11) are responsible for 23 of the Rockies’ 45 home runs. Outside of Moniak, Goodman and Rumfield (seven home runs), no Rockies player has more than two homers in 2026.

With Moniak currently shelved with an ankle injury and the Rockies starting a three-game series at Dodger Stadium on Monday night, will Colorado have to resort to small-ball offense to score against the two-time defending champions?