Athletics 6, Rockies 3 (11): Rockies’ bats were as cold as the weather as they drop the Home Opener in extras

They fall to 1-6 on the young season

The Colorado Rockies battled the Athletics in the first home game of the season, and fell 6-3. They are now 1-6 on the young season, having scored just 14 total runs. In 2024, they also started 1-6 but scored 24 runs in the same span.

The Rox had plenty of moments where they answered back today, but unfortunately did not come through in big moments when it counted. Thus, the 6-3 loss and 1-6 record to start the season.

Feltner Fine Again

Ryan Feltner had another fine outing. He threw five innings and allowed three runs (two earned) on eight hits with four strikeouts and a walk. Jacob Wilson teed him up for a solo homer in the fourth inning, but otherwise Feltner was solid, despite the adverse weather conditions.

“I grew up playing catch in the snow, so it’s something that’s familiar for me,” Feltner said after the game. “It’s still not super comfortable, but it’s familiar and it’s just part of it. But it was a cool environment.”

Bud Black offered his comments after Feltner’s start.

“It wasn’t as crisp as he’d like it to be, but he hung in there. He battled,” said manager Bud Black. “I thought his secondary pitches were pretty good today. The fastball wasn’t as good as we’ve seen in the past. I know this is just his second start, but again, I thought the secondary pitches were fine.

“He made some big pitches when he needed to, and there were a couple of big spots where [the A’s] had a chance to break through but he held the line a little bit,” Black continued. “Going into the sixth giving up just three runs a lot of times, especially in this ballpark, is good.”

Feltner echoed Black’s sentiments about the pitch assessment.

“The secondary pitches were good,” he said. “They were better than the fastball at times, and I leaned on those quite a bit.”

And of course both the Rays and A’s scored early, so Feltner is working to buckle down.

“In the Rays game, my first start, it was just a lazy breaking ball that got hit out,” he said. “So I wrote that down and that’s just something that I have to remind myself – you can’t flip over breaking balls. But today… three singles, three ground balls, that’s something that you have to live with.”

Two Near Homers

There were two instances in the game that could’ve been inside-the-park home runs. The first happened in the very first inning when Ezequiel Tovar recorded the Rockies’ first hit at home in 2025. Tovar hit a towering triple to right field that bounced off the wall and sped around the bases, but was held up at third by third base coach Warren Schaeffer.

Then, in the eighth inning, second baseman Kyle Farmer hit a long ball to left field and got stuck under the wall near the foul pole. Farmer kept running and it was initially ruled a game-tying inside-the-parker, but the A’s challenged the call and won. It was ruled a ground-rule double, and Farmer was fired up about it. He was lifted in favor of Freeman to pinch run, who then did come around to score and tie the game on a Jordan Beck base hit.

Challenges and Defense Come to Haunt

There were a few other weird moments sprinkled throughout the game. For starters, the A’s challenged three times and were successful each time. The first happened in the third inning when Shea Langeliers was initially called out at first, but that was overturned and Langeliers was called safe. The second happened in the fourth when Farmer overran second base when Jacob Stallings hit into center. It ended up being a double play force out at second. And, of course, the third was the inside-the-park-homer-turned-ground-rule-double in the eighth.

“It’s fine,” Bud Black said postgame. “That’s what replay is for – to get the calls right. There were a couple of bang-bang plays for sure. They beat us to the bag at first a couple of times; the lodged ball was a tough one, but we ended up scoring on that anyway… But that’s baseball.”

In addition to the challenges, there was a goofy defensive moment in the sixth where Miguel Andujar hit a line drive into left field, and Tovar threw wide to the plate to allow Tyler Soderstrom to score (while also being hit in the batting helmet by Jacob Stallings in an attempted play at the plate).

Sour Ending

The Rockies did manage to tie the game multiple times and did push it to extras, and they even forced an 11th inning! But unfortunately, there was not enough LoDo magic today.

In the ninth inning, Brenton Doyle, Tovar and Ryan McMahon were up. Doyle grounded out to second, Tovar struck out swinging and then McMahon grounded out to shortstop. In the 10th, though, the Rockies defense redeemed themselves. McMahon made a great heads up play at the plate, and Tovar turned a sharp double play to end the top half. But in the bottom half, Michael Toglia was intentionally walked, Freeman struck out swinging, Nick Martini was also intentionally walked… and then Beck struck out swinging with the bases loaded to send it to 11.

And then the wheels fell off in the 11th inning. With two outs, Wilson singled to score JJ Bleday and Langeliers, then Gio Urshela doubled to score Wilson. The Rox ended the inning in a 6-3 deficit.

In the Rockies’ half, Doyle stepped up as the tying run after Mickey Moniak walked. But unfortunately, he grounded into a 6-4-3 double play. And then Tovar struck out to end the threat and the game. In total, the Rockies struck out 14 more times and went 1-for-15 with runners in scoring position.

Up Next

The Rockies will look to even the series tomorrow, and hopefully things are a bit warmer (or at least less windy)! They will also be giving away a Doyle/Tovar Gold Glove t-shirt if that’s enticing!

Germán Márquez will be on the bump for the Rockies, facing A’s left-hander JP Sears. First pitch is at 6:10 pm MT.