Ryan Feltner’s baseball education has become a school of hard knocks.
The Rockies are enamored with the right-hander’s powerful fastball and his potential as a starting pitcher. Still, Feltner struggled again Monday night, and the Rockies were bludgeoned, 13-3, to Cincinnati at Coors Field.
The Reds arrived in LoDo having dropped 15 of their last 22 road games, but they ripped Feltner for eight runs on 10 hits over 4 1/3 innings, raising his ERA to 6.22. And the Reds kept right on ripping.
Colorado lost its third consecutive game — A hint of a coming June swoon, perhaps? — and received its third consecutive lackluster start. Right-hander Cal Quantrill and lefty Austin Gomber, the Rockies’ best starters this season, both struggled in weekend losses to the Dodgers in Los Angeles.
Manager Bud Black often says that starting pitching sets the tone for a team, but Feltner has been tone-deaf too often this season. Big innings have been Feltner’s undoing, and they were again Monday night. The Reds scored three times in the third, highlighted by Jeimer Candelario’s two-run homer, and three more in the fourth, the big hit a two-out, two-run triple to right by Will Benson.
Feltner has been victimized by multi-run innings 14 times this season, tied with Washington’s Patrick Corbin for the second-most in the National League. The Cubs’ Kyle Hendricks has the most, with 15.
After falling behind, 4-1, after Cincinnati’s first three at-bats, Colorado cut the lead to 4-3 in the third on a 425-foot solo homer to left-center by Brendan Rodgers and an RBI single by designated hitter Jacob Stallings.
But that was the high-water mark for the Rockies because the Reds — 6 for 11 with runners in scoring position — stayed hot. After Feltner departed, Cincy tagged lefty reliever Josh Rogers for three runs on four hits over 2 2/3 innings. Spencer Steer’s two-run single was the key hit of Cincy’s three-run sixth inning.
The Reds added two more runs in the ninth. Tyler Stephenson lofted a two-run home run to right off right-hander Angel Chivilli, who made his major league debut.
The Reds rapped out 18 hits compared to Colorado’s nine.
The Rockies received their offensive punch from Rodgers, who, in addition to slugging a home run, doubled and scored a run in the first on Elehuris Montero’s single. Center fielder Brenton Doyle also had a good night, hitting 3 for 4 with a double and two singles.
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