The reigning World Series champions got nothin’ on these Rockies.
Colorado won its first series on Saturday on its 13th try, snapping a franchise-worst drought to begin the season in that regard. In the 8-3 victory over Texas, the Rockies became the last MLB team to win a series this year, too, a day after winning consecutive games for the first time in 2024.
They did it behind a solid outing from Ryan Feltner, who allowed two runs over five-plus innings, plus a seventh-inning rally in which the Rockies batted around while scoring six runs with two outs to cement a season-high three-game winning streak.
“We’ve felt close to (breaking out),” catcher Jacob Stallings said. “It’s not like we’ve had a bunch of blowout losses. Early in the season we had a few, but we feel like we’re playing pretty well. We’re just not getting that big hit, or making that key pitch or that play. To put together three good games here in a row, against good teams, guys are feeling good.”
Hunter Goodman got the Rockies going in the third, leading off with a homer to left-center off Andrew Heaney for his second mammoth dinger of the year that traveled more than 440 feet.
In the fifth, the Rangers took their first lead by plating a couple runs off Feltner. After a couple singles, Marcus Semien’s sacrifice fly tied the game. Two batters later, Nathaniel Lowe made it 2-1 with an RBI single before Feltner fanned Adolis García to get out of the jam.
“That was a big strikeout,” Feltner said. “I didn’t want to let that inning snowball and I wanted to keep our team in the game. That was a big moment in the game and I wanted to go down with my best stuff.”
There were fireworks in the bottom of the fifth, a frame that ended with Ezequiel Tovar getting thrown out at second. Tovar had the bag stolen, but over-slid it, and briefly came off the base. It looked like the tag on him might have been phantom, and manager Bud Black argued with home plate umpire Chad Fairchild, getting in the blue’s face.
That resulted in Black’s first ejection this season, his 11th with Colorado and the 36th of his career. Bench coach Mike Redmond, who said Black was incensed because Fairchild wouldn’t let the Rockies challenge the call, took over managerial duties the rest of the evening.
“(The second-base umpire) called (Tovar) safe initially, and then called him out on the slide,” Redmond said. “We were trying to look at it (on replay), and they said we ran out of time. I told Buddy with two seconds to go to challenge, and he did immediately, so I’m not sure how two seconds ran off that quickly.”
Colorado proceeded to tie the game the next inning, when José Leclerc balked home Ryan McMahon. But the Rockies stranded the go-ahead run, Elias Diaz, at third base when Leclerc struck out Sean Bouchard, Jacob Stallings and Goodman.
The Rangers then grabbed the momentum and the lead right back in the seventh, when Leody Taveras launched Jake Bird’s hanging curveball 389 feet into the right-field seats to make it 3-2.
But as the rain started to come down in the seventh, David Robertson unraveled. The right-hander spelled Leclerc with two outs and Jordan Beck, who singled to start the inning, standing on second. McMahon and Diaz both singled to center as Robertson struggled to grip the ball, and finished his evening by hitting Bouchard and walking Doyle.
“Robertson’s been one of the best relievers in the game so far this year, especially lately, but we made him throw strikes,” Stallings said. “We put up a lot of good at-bats against him.”
That loaded the bases for Stalling, who singled off Longmont native Cole Winn to bring two more runs home and push the score to 6-3. Charlie Blackmon, the hero of the series-opening win on Friday, then roped a pinch-hit double down the right-field line. That scored two more runs and tied Blackmon with Larry Walker for the second-most extra-base hits in club history at 599.
Hall of Fame electee Todd Helton remains the franchise leader in the category with 998 extra-base hits.
“That’s incredible, and to put it in perspective, if you (just about) double everything that I’ve done, then we can have a conversation,” Blackmon said.
Tyler Kinley, who recorded the final out of the seventh, pitched a scoreless eighth before Nick Mears finished the game in the ninth to improve the Rockies to 11-28. That is still the worst 39-game start in team history, but Blackmon believes the surge over the past few days — which began with a 9-1 rout over the Giants on Thursday — is something the club can build off of.
“That’s the plan,” Blackmon said. “I certainly think guys feel good about themselves right now. It seems like we’ve done a little bit of everything lately — played defense really well, pitched well, bullpen great, and we finally got some hitting. We’ll try to keep it going.”
Rockies injury updates. Black said that outfielder/first baseman Kris Bryant, who has been on the injured list since April 17 with a back strain, will begin his rehab assignment on Tuesday with Triple-A Albuquerque. Black hopes Bryant will return to the Colorado lineup sometime on their upcoming road trip, likely on the latter half in San Francisco or Oakland, if it does happen. … Outfielder Nolan Jones, who has been on the injured list with a back strain since April 30, is also heading out to Albuquerque in the coming week to begin his rehab assignment. Jones has done some work in the cage but is just starting to ramp up baseball activities. His return to the lineup could be a couple days behind Bryant’s, Black said. … Southpaw Kyle Freeland, on the injured list since April 19 with a left elbow strain, continues to throw. Black said Freeland could be back on a mound throwing bullpens within the next couple weeks, with a rehab assignment to Triple-A to follow.
Sunday’s pitching matchup
Rangers TBA at Rockies TBA
1:10 p.m. Sunday, Coors Field
TV: Rockies.TV (streaming); Comcast/Xfinity (channel 1262); DirecTV (683); Spectrum (130, 445, 305, 435 or 445, depending on region).
Radio: 850 AM/94.1 FM
Both teams have yet to announce Sunday’s starter. The hole in the Rockies’ rotation is from Peter Lambert moving to the bullpen, as Lambo was 0-2 with a 16.39 ERA in three starts this year, including getting shelled for seven runs in three innings earlier this week in a loss to San Francisco. Regis Jesuit product Ty Blach is the most likely candidate to start for Colorado on Sunday. The southpaw’s appeared in four games this year, with a 3.46 ERA. In his one start, he allowed four runs in five innings in a loss at home to the Padres on April 25.
Pitching probables
Monday: Rockies RHP Dakota Hudson (0-6, 6.35) at Padres RHP Randy Vasquez (0-1, 4.50), 7:40 p.m.
Tuesday: Rockies RHP Cal Quantrill (2-3, 3.94) at Padres RHP Dylan Cease (5-2, 2.19), 7:40 p.m.
Wednesday: Rockies LHP Austin Gomber (0-2, 3.43) at Padres RHP Michael King (3-3, 3.67), 2:10 p.m.
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