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Rockies vs. Phillies: Rox offense sleepwalks through another series sweep

Make it stop. Please

By Ian Slate |
Colorado Rockies v Philadelphia Phillies
Colorado Rockies v Philadelphia Phillies / Mitchell Leff/GettyImages
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The Rundown

After a series loss in Toronto, the Rockies headed down to the City of Brotherly Love to take on the Philadelphia Phillies. Game one was a pitchers' duel, as Cal Quantrill and Aaron Nola traded punches, both giving up just one run in their six and 7.1 innings respectively. Michael Toglia’s fourth home run of the season tied the game at one in the fifth inning, but the Rockies were unable to muster up any sort of offense outside of the blast. Elias Diaz had two singles, one of them in the ninth, leading to a wild series of events.

With an injury plagued bench, the Rockies turned to Kyle Freeland to run for Diaz, who tried a mad dash at the plate after a Jeff Hoffman slider bounded away from J.T. Realmuto. To the dismay of Rockies fans, the ball bounced up in the air, and Realmuto shovel-passed it to home plate where a collision and a tag beat Freeland, ending the inning, the threat, and leaving Freeland in pain. The let down continued as Cristian Pache smacked a walk off single into right field, sending the Rox home in heartbreaking fashion.  

Just when you thought the offense couldn’t get any worse, here comes Ranger Suarez. Austin Gomber gave 5.1 respectable innings of three run ball, but it would be far from enough to give the Rockies a chance. Suarez delivered a complete game shutout, striking out eight batters along the way. Despite the scoreless night, the Rockies managed to spread out seven hits across the game, including two from Ryan McMahon. In relief of Gomber, Victor Vodnik had another clean outing but Tyler Kinley’s struggles continued, giving up a two run homer to Bryce Harper, furthering his miserable start to the season. All told, the Rockies were unable to bring home the win on Dinger's birthday, dropping game two by a score of 5-0.

The series finale finally featured some signs of life from the Rockies bats as they tallied 11 hits off of Phillies pitching. Yet again, first inning woes continued as Ryan Feltner gave up a four spot to start the game. The Phillies would tack on two more runs off of Feltner and one more off Peter Lambert, taking a 7-1 lead into the eighth. Finally, the Rockies offense woke up, as Brenton Doyle, McMahon, and Diaz led off with three straight singles in front of an Elehuris Montero sac-fly. A walk-in run, an RBI groundout, and Ezequiel Tovar’s third hit of the night would bring the Rockies to within one after the five-run frame. But, as seems to be the theme all year long, Jose Alvarado slammed the door in the ninth, giving the Rockies another painful one-run loss, as the Phillies walked away 7-6 winners.

The Positives

Elias Diaz had another really solid series, going 4-13 and was one of two Rockies to hit in all three games. The other was Brenton Doyle, who has been awesome at the plate this season. After looking like he was destined to be an offensive liability with a great glove among the likes of Myles Straw, Doyle has been a well above average hitter in 2024, picking up three more hits vs. the Phils. Ezequiel Tovar is blossoming into a star in front of our eyes, his 3-5 night on Thursday gave the Rockies a shot deep in the ballgame, and he has earned himself a place at the top of the Rockies order. Ryan McMahon continued his hot start with four more hits, retaining his spot as the best hitter in this lineup. Sean Bouchard went 1-3 with a walk in his first game after being called up for the injured Kris Bryant, a nice start to his season and already looking like more of an offensive threat then KB. Michael Toglia has crazy pop, that is all.

Justin Lawrence had two clean outings that were much needed after his rough start to the year. Nick Mears also had a solid outing, looking to make his case for another shot at the ninth inning duties. And here I go again, back on my Victor Vodnik soapbox. But I will stay here until he gives up a run this season, and guess what? He hasn't. 12.1 scoreless innings to start the season within another clean outing. I demand Victor Vodnik respect and will remain on this soapbox until I am proven otherwise.

The Negatives

First. Inning. Runs. Have. To. Stop. Six more first inning runs were given up by Rockies starters and in two of the three games, first inning runs were allowed. When your offense struggles with consistency, you cannot put them behind the eight-ball every game. It’s not a recipe for success and we have seen it time and time again this year. The Rockies seem to have this issue of pitching well when the offense sucks and pitching bad when the offense is good, ultimately resulting in high scoring losses or low scoring losses. The scores of this series are indicative of this trend, as the Rockies lost 2-1, 5-0, and then 7-6.

If Tyler Kinley could have a clean outing again, that would be great. Two more earned runs from Kinley raised his season ERA to 12.86, and he has given up runs in four of his last six outings. Not good. Nolan Jones, it’s time to wake up. An 0-7 performance against the Phillies dropped his season average to .171. He’s shown signs of coming to life here and there, but the Rockies were looking for a big season out of Jones and he has failed to provide any consistent offense save for a few games this year. Hopefully he will turn it around soon and repeat his electric 2023 campaign. 

Coors Crown: Cal Quantrill

This is the guy who had a 14-game home winning streak with the Guardians. This is the guy who went 25-8 with a 3.08 ERA from 2020-2022. Yes, 2023 was rough for Quantrill, but for Cleveland to give up on him and essentially gift wrap a pitcher with a track record of success to a team that can’t pay a pitcher to sign with them is a dream come true. It hasn’t been great to start the year, but his last two starts have looked really solid and if he can be anything remotely close to what he was two or three years ago the Rockies have a reliable starting pitcher on their hands, and that has been hard to come by for this organization.

Quantrill went head-to-head with one of the best pitchers in baseball on Thursday, turning in six innings of one run ball while allowing only four hits. While he only struck out two batters, that’s never been his MO and he was up against a powerful Phillies offense. Quantrill’s last two starts have been incredibly encouraging, if he can keep this up the Rockies may have found a gem to help out a thin pitching staff.  

Rockiest Rocky: Ryan Feltner

I hate to do it to the kid, but it has to be done. Four runs in the first inning is a tough hole to climb out of. The Rockies ended up dropping the final game by one run, and Feltner’s tough start didn’t help matters, ending with his second loss of the season. Credit to him for making it into the sixth inning and striking out eight after his tough first frame, but the Phillies had no problem hitting him around the park with nine hits and two home runs. The outing brought his season ERA to 5.06 on the season with 26 strikeouts in 21.1 innings, and it was really his first bad start of the year. Feltner has shown signs of developing into a solid starter with his strikeout stuff and ability to pitch five or six innings, but Thursday’s start was a tough blow for a struggling Rockies ballclub. 

Stat Pack

Offensive Highlights: 

Ezequiel Tovar: 3-12, 2 RBI  (series); .306 AVG, 10 RBI, .849 OPS (season totals)

Michael Toglia: 1-10, 1 HR; .122 AVG, 4 HR, 8 RBI

Ryan McMahon: 4-13, .307 AVG; .361 AVG, 11 RBI, 8 R

Brenton Doyle: 3-11, .273 AVG; .286 AVG; 11 R, .810 OPS

Elias Diaz: 4-13, 1 RBI; .310, 8 RBI, .728 OPS

Pitching Highlights: 

Austin Gomber: 5 IP, 3 ER, 4 K (series); 4.95 ERA, 20 IP, 18 K (season totals)

Peter Lambert: 1.2 IP, 1 ER, 2 K; 2.31 ERA, 11.2 IP, 10 K

Justin Lawrence: 2 IP, 0 ER, 2 K; 8.10 ERA, 6.2 IP, 7 K

Victor Vodnik: 1.2 IP, 0 ER, 2 K; 0.00 ERA, 12.1 IP, 11 K

Nick Mears: 1.1 IP, 0 ER, 1 K; 2.35 ERA, 7.2 IP, 9 K

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