The Colorado Rockies won an absolutely wild series against the Miami Marlins upon their return home to Coors Field after a dreadful road trip.
The first game might look like it was a comfortable win for the home team on paper. A 7-1 victory where the starter went seven innings and allowed just one run while the bullpen allowed only a single base runner sounds like total domination.
However, in that contest, Marlins starter Pablo Lopez pitched a fantastic game, continuing his phenomenal 2022 season. Because of that, the Rockies were behind 1-0 for most of the game and did not score until the seventh, making it a rare lopsided nail-biter.
Ryan Feltner proved that he deserves a much longer look at more consistent starts in MLB and Yonathan Daza came up with the big hit in a pinch appearance. His contact skill keeps coming through in big moments.
After the second game was rained out initially, a double-header was scheduled for Wednesday.
As has become their tradition, the first game of the twin set was a total disaster for Colorado who got drubbed 14-1.
Antonio Senzatela got hammered in his return and Jhoulys Chacin and Chad Smith threw gasoline on the fire as the game became a laugher. On the flip side, rookie Edwar Cabrera held the Rox to just one hit from C.J. Cron in the sixth inning.
Hilariously and for the fourth time on the season, regardless of how terrible they looked in the first leg, the Rockies bounced back and took the night cap.
It wasn’t easy though.
Despite scoring 10 runs in the first five innings, the boys in purple found themselves down 11-10 going into the bottom of the sixth.
Another brutal outing from German Marquez saw him go five and give up seven (six earned) and Robert Stephenson combined with some bad defense surrendered another additional four unearned runs.
But Brendan Rodgers played hero on the night, smashing three home runs and driving in four runs including the final two on a walk-off in the bottom of the 10th. Talk about drama.
Rodgers has experienced quite the turnaround. After being one of the worst qualified hitters in baseball for the first month, he has carried the Rockies offense at times in the second. His performance on Wednesday night was an exclamation point on putting the past behind him and getting back to being one of the most exciting members of the franchise moving forward.
They don’t get much crazier than that, but they all count the same in the win/loss columns and so it amounted to a much-needed series win for Colorado.
Now, the welcome the defending champs to town which might sound incredibly daunting until you look and see that they have had their struggles this season as well with losing months in both April and May.
So, oddly enough, the four-game weekend series will begin with the Rockies (23-27) only a half-game behind Atlanta (24-27) and as potentially an opportunity to get more momentum back.
Austin Gomber, Chad Kuhl, and Kyle Freeland will take the rock in the first three games with a large question mark looming over the Sunday start. Will the club find a way to get Feltner in there? Or will they maintain trust in the five guys they broke with and hope that they can find a way to pitch to their resumes?
Colorado can’t afford to look past this one but we can and it’s also worth noting that after this homestand the Rockies go on the road to San Francisco and San Diego, which doesn’t exactly scream high chance for success.
It isn’t satisfying to the fans, but the Rockies have managed to keep their heads above water, sticking around through a brutal stretch, and they have a chance to get back to .500. But there is also ample opportunity for the next week and a half to be the time where they can no longer keep their heads above water.
And the season drowns.
