On a hot summer afternoon at Coors Field, the Colorado Rockies were looking for their first series win coming out of the All-Star break. Unfortunately, they fell behind massively early in the game and had to spend the rest of the game fighting to come back. What’s important is that they almost did it. These 2026 Rockies will keep fighting until the final pitch, and it’s part of what makes them an infinitely better team than last season.
“Down big after two innings, it’s really hard to come back, but
we kept fighting,” said manager Warren Schaeffer after the game. “It’s one series where we lost. We move on to the next one.”
He Felt that one
It was a rough afternoon at the office for right-handed starter Ryan Feltner, who completed just two innings of work. By the time he was pulled, the game was already feeling well out of hand. The Cincinnati Reds offense put up five runs against Feltner in the first inning, all of which scored via the home run. After Elly De La Cruz singled and Feltner walked JJ Bleday, designated hitter Nathaniel Lowe crushed a three-run homer to right field.
Feltner then allowed an Eugenio Suárez single and another home run–this time off the bat of Tyler Stephenson–to round out the scoring in the first.
But hey, this is Coors Field in the summer! A clean inning and some comeback offense would keep the game in reach despite the lopsided inning. We’ve seen it plenty of times before.
Unfortunately, the clean inning wouldn’t come. A double and a walk to start the top of the second inning set the table for Rookie of the Year candidate Sal Stewart to launch a 456-foot home run to center field.
Feltner was able to navigate out of the second without giving up another run, but when he came out for the third it was clear his day would not last much longer. He issued back-to-back walks with one out before being pulled off the mound.
“The command wasn’t real good at all. He wasn’t sharp,” commented Warren Schaeffer. “The walks hurt. And then obviously the homers.. Off-speed pitches were hung. Just not a lot of command with the off-speed stuff today, and he got hurt for it.”
Buy a drink for Tanner Gordon
Right-handed pitcher Tanner Gordon was a critical part of this ballgame was even remotely close after nine innings. Gordon was called to relieve Ryan Feltner in the third inning and did yeoman’s work for 5.2 innings.
Gordon gave up just one earned run on three hits and a walk, with the run coming on what was really his only bad pitch of the afternoon in the top of the fifth. It wasn’t even that bad of a pitch, simply a slider that didn’t break far enough, but Reds catcher Tyler Stephenson took it deep for his second home run of the game.
By throwing 66 pitches in a long relief role–48 for strikes–Gordon was able to save the Rockies’ bullpen for the next series while also allowing the offense to battle it’s way back within striking distance.
“TG is great. Great length out of the pen to take the ball in the middle of the third and go all the way through the eighth,” said Schaeffer. “He just pounds the zone. TG is fearless, he goes right after you. The changeup was really good today, put the fastball where he wanted to. That’s what he does. He was huge today for the bullpen.”
It’s also worth noting that veteran reliever Jordan Romano pitched a 1-2-3 inning in the top of the ninth that included an absolute gem of an out by Kyle Karros and TJ Rumfield. Romano also struck out a batter.
Hunter Robert Goodman
The Rockies scored six runs in their loss against the Reds this afternoon.
Five of them were due to the heroics of All-Star and Silver Slugger Hunter Goodman.
After the Rockies went down by five in the first inning, Goodman showed the team still had some fight with a no-doubt solo home run to center field.
In the sixth inning after Tanner Gordon had stopped the bleeding, Goodman take advantage of a Jake McCarthy single to hit a two run home run.
Even though the Rockies were still down by six runs, it felt like a little LoDo magic might still be possible. The feeling was magnified in the eighth inning–the inning in which the Rockies lead Major League Baseball in runs–when Mickey Moniak singled and Goodman once again came to the plate. Goodman proceeded to demolish his third no-doubt home run of the game for his fourth and fifth RBIs.
This was Hunter Goodman’s tenth multi-home run game of his short career and his second three home run game of the season. The latter puts him in rare company.
Only three Rockies in the past–Larry Walker, Todd Helton, and Carlos González–had multiple three home run games during their career. Walker did it three times. However, Goodman is the first and only Rockies batter in franchise history to have multiple three run home runs in a single season.
“His body looks like it’s flowing right. He looks dangerous. He just looks in-sync,” Schaeffer said of Goodman in his post-game presser.. “You can see the confidence seep out of him.”
Willi Castro led off the bottom of the ninth inning with a no-doubter of his own and a scorched Kyle Karros single had Rockies fans feeling a comeback was possible. Unfortunately, Troy Johnston and Tyler Freeman both struck out in the next two at-bats. Edouard Julien worked the count full, but popped what would have been ball four into foul territory for the final out of the game.
Coming Up Next
The Rockies will take the field tomorrow evening to start a three game series against the visiting Washington Nationals. Game one will be a battle of the lefties with Kyle Freeland on the mound for the Rockies and Andrew Alvarez starting for the Nationals. First pitch is scheduled for 6:40 PM MDT.
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