Rockies’ poor defense costs them game, series vs. Tampa Bay Rays

The Rockies‘ defense: pure gold one day, iron pyrite the next.

And so they finished the season’s first series with a 1-2 record and thoughts about what might have been.

The Rockies, done in by an ugly sixth inning, lost 6-4 to the Rays on Sunday afternoon at George M. Steinbrenner Field. Tampa Bay scored four runs in the frame, sending 10 men to the plate. The Rockies were charged with one error, but it could have been two.

It contrasted sharply with Saturday’s game, when the Rockies played nine innings of outstanding defense to win 2-1.

Sunday, Ryan Feltner survived a bumpy first inning to give the Rockies a solid start, and Mickey Moniak hit a two-run, pinch-hit homer in the seventh, but that wasn’t enough to overcome their miscues in the sixth.

The meltdown began when lefty reliever Luis Peralta plunked Jonathan Aranda, and Taylor Walls laced a single to left.

No big deal until pinch-hitter Junior Caminero hit a sharp grounder up the middle off reliever Tyler Kinley. It looked like a possible double play, but second baseman Tyler Freeman attempted to field the ball near the bag rather than yield to shortstop Ezequiel Tovar. As the ball deflected into the outfield, Aranda came around to score.

Freeman was initially charged with an error, but the official scorer later erased the error. Colorado manager Bud Black said he thought the ball took “a little bit of a bad hop.”

“Off the bat, I said, ‘Hey, that’s a double-play ball,'” Black told reporters in Tampa, Fla. “Then (Freeman) and ‘Tovie’ converged. I haven’t seen the replay, but it looked like it took a little hop.”

Jose Caballero then put down a perfect bunt on a safety squeeze, and Rockies catcher Jacob Stallings threw the ball past first base for a two-run error as Caballero advanced to second. Caballero stole third without a throw and then scored on a grounder to third baseman Ryan McMahon, who came home with his throw. Caballero just barely snuck his hand in under Stallings’ tag.

That turned out to be the ballgame.

“We knew going in that the Rays (bunt) and we were ready for it,” Black said. “Perfect bunt. The only thing, ‘Stalls’ maybe could have let it go foul. It had a lot of spin. … Stalls tried to make a play but was off-line on his throw to first.”

Colorado received its third solid start of the young season. Neither Kyle Freeland nor Antonio Senzatela allowed a run in the first two games. Feltner bounced back from a rough first inning to put the Rockies in a good position to clinch the series.  The right-hander gave up two runs on four hits over five innings. He walked one and struck out five.

“A good use of the changeup today against their heavy, left-handed-hitting lineup,” Black said. “I thought that was effective. The slider came on, and the breaking pitches came on as the game went along.”

The first inning looked like a prelude to disaster. Yandy Diaz led off with a double to left-center and then scored on Brandon Lowe’s home run to right. Lowe sat on Feltner’s first-pitch curveball, blasting it 409 feet. Then Aranda hit a double down the left-field line and Feltner walked Walls.

Feltner was on the brink of melting down but struck out Kameron Misner and got Caballero to line out softly to first. Having found his form, Feltner ended up retiring 14 of the next 15 batters he faced.

Moniak’s home run was the first pinch-hit blast of his career. Acquired at the end of spring training, he became the third player in franchise history to hit a home run in their first plate appearance with the club. He’s the first to do so as a pinch hitter.

The Rockies play at Philadelphia on Monday in the Phillies’ home opener.

Monday’s pitching matchup

Rockies RHP German Marquez (0-0, 6.75 in 2024) at Phillies LHP Cristopher Sanchez (11-9, 3.32 in 2024), 1:05 p.m.

1:05 p.m. Monday, Citizens Bank Park

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

Trending: Entering Monday’s game, Rockies starters have a combined 1.17 ERA after three games. Kyle Freeland (six innings) and Antonio Senzatela (4 1/3 innings) were the first starters in franchise history to allow no runs in the first two games of a season. Ryan Feltner was charged with two runs over five innings on Sunday.

Pitching probables

• Tuesday: Off
• Wednesday: Rockies LHP Kyle Freeland (0-0, 0.00) at Phillies RHP Zack Wheeler (0-0, 1.50), 4:45 p.m.
• Thursday: Rockies RHP Antonio Senzatela (0-0, 0.00) at Phillies RHP Taijuan Walker (3-7, 7.10 in 2024)

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