Maybe a visit to Coors Field will help the Arizona Diamondbacks' offense.

It's not like they are having trouble scoring runs. But, a lot of times, visiting ballclubs who can't seemingly put two runs together find a tonic when playing in Denver, Colo. So, the Diamondbacks will look for a tonic as they open a three-game weekend series against the Colorado Rockies on Friday night.

The Diamondbacks and Rockies will play the opener on Friday night, then have afternoon contests on Saturday and Sunday.

Merrill Kelly is scheduled to get the starting nod for the Diamondbacks, while the Rockies send Kyle Freeland to the mound. Kelly and Freeland are a couple of veteran starters who know their way around as pitchers. So, it should be a solid matchup.

If you're looking at Kelly's and Freeland's records this season for a glimmer of good news, then you're going to be disappointed. Kelly is 2-3 with a sky-high 7.62 ERA and has 20 strikeouts but has walked 18 batters. That's not a real strong breakdown in strikeouts-versus-walks data.

What about Freeland? He's 1-4 with a 6.00 ERA. But Freeland has struck out 28 batters and walked just eight. 

The Diamondbacks enter the weekend series against the Rockies with a 20-22 overall record, while the Rockies are 17-27. There has been a lot of hope that the Rockies, who overhauled their front office in the offseason, were going to be better in the 2026 MLB season.

Record-wise, though, that's not the case as the season has reached the middle of May.

One strong point that has helped the Diamondbacks a lot this season is better pitching out of the bullpen. Even Diamondbacks general manager Mike Hazen has noticed the difference.

"I think by and large, they've done a good job,” Hazen said, according to MLB.com. “They're throwing strikes and they're going right at hitters, and we're playing pretty good defense.

“It's hard for me to go back and tease out what part was the bullpen and what part was the defense last year, and we've played better defense, and we're throwing the ball better and throwing more strikes, and we're getting better results,” Hazen said.

While this may be true, the Arizona bullpen had a meltdown on Wednesday night against the Texas Rangers. The Diamondbacks were down 3-2 entering the ninth inning, but scored three runs to take a 5-3 lead.

Paul Sewald, who has been pretty strong this season, came on in the hopes of picking up another save. Sewald got the first two outs in the bottom of the ninth at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas, but that third out was elusive.

It was so elusive that a third out never happened. Sewald gave up two runs while he was in the game and left with a runner aboard base. Juan Morillo, who also has been solid for Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo, gave up the game-winning hit to Texas' Danny Jansen and the Rangers rallied for a 6-5 win.

All Sewald got for his efforts was a loss and a blown save.

With the hitter-friendly Coors Field awaiting, the Diamondbacks know that they have a chance to boost their offense. At the same time, Lovullo hopes his starting rotation and bullpen arms can keep the Rockies off the scoreboard.

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