Colorado Rockies morning after: Feltner shines in first relief outing

Embedded in the 5-4 loss the Colorado Rockies suffered at the hands of the Los Angeles Dodgers Friday night at Coors Field was a career first for Rockies pitcher Ryan Feltner.

After having just been recalled earlier in the day from Triple-A Albuquerque, Feltner was summoned by Colorado Rockies manager Bud Black from the bullpen to make his first professional relief appearance and the right-hander did not disappoint.

Feltner kept the Dodgers off the scoreboard and helped give the Colorado Rockies a chance for a late rally.

In his fourth stint on the Rockies active roster this season, Feltner responded with 3.1 scoreless innings to help keep the Rox within striking distance before Colorado’s comeback attempt in the bottom of the ninth inning fell short in its one-run loss to the National League West Division leaders.

After seeing Feltner permit just three hits while issuing a pair of walks and striking out two, Black was impressed with Feltner’s first relief outing in the Majors.

“He did a good job,” Black said after seeing the young right-hander throw 56 pitches, including 33 for strikes.

“He threw strikes. A couple of walks. He walked (Mookie) Betts twice, not ideal. But, overall, he did a nice job keeping us in the game and restoring order.”

Black called on Feltner to enter the game in a tough spot. After Rockies starter Chad Kuhl had issued his fourth walk of the game to load the bases with two out in the fourth inning and with the Rox already trailing 5-2, Feltner got the nod.

Facing the Dodgers’ Gavin Lux, hitting .303 this season, Feltner unleashed a trio of fastballs before inducing the left-handed swinging Los Angeles second baseman to bounce into an inning-ending groundout to Rockies first baseman C.J. Cron.

“I just wanted to give the team a chance to win,” Feltner said about entering the game with the bases loaded and no room for error.

“Coming into a situation like that, I just wanted to pound the zone with some strikes and see if I can get a quick out.”

Feltner allowed a pair of base runners in both the fifth and seventh innings but was able to work out of those jams by retiring Trea Turner for the final out of the inning on each occasion.

Turner is one of the hottest hitters in the Majors with his first-inning single off Kuhl extending his current hitting streak to 16 games — the longest active streak in the Majors.

Prior to Friday night, Feltner had logged 33.2 innings in seven starts this season for the Rockies compiling a 1-3 record with a 6.15 earned run average before getting his first professional relief opportunity.

“I haven’t but I’ve done it in the past,” he said about his previous experiences in relief roles. “I try to keep it the same mentality as much as I can. Not too much changes, but it was a different feeling and it was fun.”

As a reliever, Feltner noted the importance of being ready to perform upon taking over on the mound.

“In a certain way, there’s something nice about that,” he said. “Just not having the build up to it so that was nice. It puts you more in attack mode, for sure, which is the biggest thing you guys have heard me say, for me just being in attack mode. You kind of have no choice coming out of the bullpen so it was good.”

Following Feltner’s successful relief outing against the Dodgers, Black sees growth opportunities for the right-hander in the future.

“It’s still early in his career but there were some assignments for him to work on,” Black said. “So in the event that he comes back — which he did today — and as he moves forward, there are some things that we want to clean up with him delivery-wise, pitch mix, location, mindset of where the ball needs to be, those sorts of things.”