Rockies suffer their first sweep of the season
It’s a tale as old as time already to start the 2025 season. The Colorado Rockies dropped their fourth straight game on the road trip, falling 3-1 to the Philadelphia Phillies who completed the sweep. The Rockies now fall to 1-5 on the year and have more losses than the rest of the National League West division combined.
Antonio Senzatela wasn’t lights out, but he was effective enough to give the Rockies a chance to win. However, Phillies starter Taijuan Walker dazzled in his first outing of the year as the Rockies once again struggled to get anything going offensively throughout the game.
Senzy’s Fine Performance
The hits kept coming against Senzatela as the Phillies tallied 10 of them with only one extra-base hit by Bryce Harper. Despite the amount of hits allowed, Senzatela was bailed out by his defense time and time again.
With the bases loaded and just one out, Senzatela picked up a slow chopper up the third base side of the mound and one-hopped a ball to Jacob Stallings at the plate. Brandon Marsh was initially called safe by a replay challenge from the Rockies resulted in an out when it was revealed Marsh’s foot didn’t touch the plate, but collided with Stallings’s foot as he stretched to snag the throw.
In the third inning, Senzatela got out of a jam by inducing a double-play ball to first base to get a 3-6-3 putout to end the inning. Later on in the fourth inning, he got a gift out when J.T. Realmuto (3-for-3) was struck for a sharply hit grounder off the bat of Bryson Stott for the second out of that inning.
The lone run that came against Senzatela was in the fifth inning. Kyle Schwarber lofted a ball to left field that was misplayed by Mickey Moniak for an error. Schwarber ended up on second and scored on Harper’s double to give the Phillies a 1-0 lead.
Senzatela left the game after 5 1⁄3 innings, allowing one run though it was unearned, and tallying three strikeouts. Through his first two starts, he has allowed 19 hits but still has a 0.00 ERA.
Too Little, Too Late
The Rockies’ offense reared its ugly head once again as they struck out 10 times, including three times in the ninth inning. It’s the fifth time this season they have already struck out in the double digits.
The Rockies had a chance to score early one when Mickey Moniak lofted a ball to center field that looked to be a home run, but after review, it was determined it didn’t go out and he settled for a triple. However, the Rockies were unable to bring him home with two outs.
In the ninth inning, down 3-0, the Rockies managed to tally three of their eight hits in the game. Hunter Goodman (0-for-2) led the inning off with a walk and was followed up by Michael Toglia’s (1-for-4) single to right field to move Goodman to third base. With runners of the corners, Sean Bouchard (1-for-1) slapped a ball to third base that kicked off the glove of Alec Bohm, scoring Goodman. Stallings (1-for-4) had a lengthy at-bat that resulted in a strikeout, the first out of the inning.
Kyle Farmer then singled to left field as a pinch hitter to load the bases. Unfortunately, Tyler Freeman followed up with a strikeout and Brenton Doyle struck out to end the game. The team is now 9-for-44 with Runners in Scoring Position.
Up Next
The Rockies head back to Coors Field for their home opener on Friday with a weekend series against the Oakland Las Vegas Sacramento Athletics. Ryan Feltner (0-0, 3.60 ERA) gets the nod on the mound and Osvaldo Bido (1-0, 1.80 ERA) will get the start for the A’s. It’s going to be a cold one out there so be sure to bundle up Rockies fans.
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