Rays 6, Rockies 4: Poor defense sinks the ship in Tampa

The Rockies still have not won a season-opening series since 2022

The Colorado Rockies still have not won a season-opening series since 2022, and still haven’t won a season-opening road series (in front of fans) since 2017.

The game started off tough, as they got down 2-0 early. But they battled back to tie the game in the fifth, before the wheels fell off in the sixth. They chipped away at the lead in the seventh, but the deficit proved too much to overcome.

Felter settles

Ryan Feltner looked solid in his 2025 debut. He struggled a bit in the first inning — allowing a double, flyout and two-run home run right off the bat. Jonathan Aranda, batting fourth, hit a ground-rule double, and then Taylor Walls walked.

But then Feltner sent down 12-straight batters over the next four innings. All in all, Feltner threw 83 pitches over five innings and allowed two runs (both earned) on four hits with one walk and five strikeouts. He was the first Rockies’ starter to allow a run, but still looked sharp in his first outing.

About the sixth inning…

Everything fell apart in the sixth, on both sides of the ball.

To start things off, Feltner was lifted in favor of left-hander Luis Peralta. Peralta threw 14 pitches to three batters and recording one out. He got Brandon Lowe to fly out to left, but then hit Jonathan Aranda. After the Rays put in pinch-hitter Junior Caminero, Bud Black decided to lift Peralta in favor of Tyler Kinley. And that’s when the wheels started to fall off.

After having outstanding defense in Game 2 of the series, the Rockies’ infield collapsed, committing three errors and allowing four runs to score in the frame (two errors were later overturned). First, Caminero reached on a fielding error on Tyler Freeman, who ran in front of Ezequiel Tovar in an attempt to field a grounder, but it bounced off his wrist. Then, on the very next play, José Caballero hit a bunt single to score Taylor Walls. Then a throwing error by Stallings allowed Caminero to score and Caballero to reach second.

Ryan McMahon made a beautiful play to save the Rockies’ defense, but Caballero was still able to score after stealing third. The Rockies went from being tied 2-2 in the middle of the inning to being down 6-2 at its end.

Kinley faced three more batters, allowing a single to Jonny DeLuca, a sac fly to Yandy Díaz, a stolen base by DeLuca, and a walk by Jake Mangum. Jake Bird entered the game after Kinley faced six batters, allowing two runs (zero earned) on two hits with 22 pitches. Bird faced Lowe one more time and struck him out, ending the disastrous inning.

Mickey Moni-jack

Before this game started, I asked my team “which will happen first — the Dodgers lose a game (they’re 5-0) or the Rockies hit a home run?” They entered this game as the last team to record a big fly, and exited the seventh finally achieving that feat and answering my question.

Mickey Moniak, who was signed, literally, four days ago, showed why the Rockies signed him and hit a 405-foot bomb to center field. He and Nick Martini both scored, bringing the Rockies within two, and then remained in the game in favor of Freeman. He moved to left field in place of Jordan Beck, and Kyle Farmer moved to second.

Up Next

The Rockies head up north to Philadelphia for a three-game series against the Phillies (2-1). Germán Márquez is slated to start on Monday, then they’ll have an off day on Tuesday and finish the set on Wednesday and Thursday before heading back to Denver for the Home Opener on Friday.