Rockies call up Dollander in series loss to Athletics
A triple play, snow ball, a call-up and tacos. It was an eventful home opening series for the Colorado Rockies, restoring Coors Field to its faithful fans in a three game set against the Athletics.
Major League Baseball saw it’s first snow game of the season in the series opener on Friday, April 4. Ryan Feltner took the hill in a 30℉ flurry Denver afternoon and familiarly got off to a shaky start, allowing three hits and a run in the first inning. Ryan McMahon answered later that frame with a masterful eight-pitch at bat resulting in his first RBI of the season.
Feltner ended up allowing a pair of earned runs and got subbed out in the sixth for Jimmy Herget.
In the eighth inning, while Colorado was trailing a run, Kyle Farmer put a good swing on a pitch from Tyler Furgerson that rolled all the way and stopped sharp at the left field wall. A’s outfielder Miguel Anudjar threw up his hands to signal the ball was stuck and unable to be obtained instead of picking it up, but Farmer kept his head down and ran the bases for an inside-the-park home run.
The umpires quickly overturned the call and gave Farmer a ground-rule double which upset the 48 thousand fans at Coors Field, since Andujar simply picked up the ball from the wall and threw it in. However, the baseball gods repaid the missed call with a Jordan Beck RBI tying up the game two batters later.
Game one needed two extra innings to decide the winner, and manager Bud Black’s call to put in Angel Chivilli in the eleventh costed the game after he couldn’t find the strike zone, giving up three runs across 20 pitches. The Rockies lost 6-3 losing their fifth consecutively.
The snow seceded in game two for Germán Márquez second start of the year. The cold front still limited fan attendance, but the 27 thousand fans saw a feat that happens once every 607 baseball games. In the top of the second, with A’s Shea Langilears on second and Tyler Soderstrom on first with no outs, Jacob Wilson slapped a grounder to McMahon at third. McMahon stepped on third, threw to Farmer, Farmer to Micheal Toglia for the first Rockies triple play since 2015.
The momentum gave the Rox a 3-0 lead, but once Márquez stalled out in the fifth the bullpen quickly imploded. In Scott Alexander’s five batters he gave up two home runs and a trio of runs. The A’s piled on three more an inning later to put the Rockies away 7-4.
Colorado came into the series finale with an odd amount of hope. Hope for a team that had lost six games in a row and got off to their tied worst start to a season through eight games in franchise history. Hope in the arm of Rockies No. one overall prospect, 23-year-old Chase Dollander. After getting drafted ninth overall in 2023, it took him 23 starts to climb up each minor league rank, and only a week and a half into the season to get the call.
Although the Athletics quieted the hype with a two-run homer in the first, Dollander quickly settled in and proved his major league potential. He finished with six punch outs across five innings, giving up four runs just shy of 80 pitches. He flashed a tight strikeout slider and his fastball got up to 99 miles per hour.
Bud Black noted on the team's failure to punch back when the bullpen gives up runs earlier in the week, but that was the least of the offense's dilemmas on Sunday. The day started with Brenton Doyle’s second career lead off home run, and a surprising RBI from Kris Bryant, who had greatly struggled eight games in.
the Rockies reached home plate in each of the first four innings for seven runs, giving Rockies fans their first tacos of the season, a promotion Taco Bell has done with the team since 2008. They broke it open in the eighth inning off a 10 batter, five-run rally that got every hitter in action. Eight batters reached from one-through-nine in the lineup for the best team-showing they’ve had all year.
Victor Vodnik prolonged the ninth inning, but the Rockies got the job done for the huge morale-boosting 12-5 win.
Ezequiel Tovar’s season kick-started after his confounding start on the road trip, going 8-for-15 across the three games. Doyle collected four RBIs in his 3-for-5 act in game three, showing this offense ride-and-dies with the top of the order.
the Rockies have a day off before welcoming the Milwaukee Brewers into Coors Field. With expectations of eight overall prospect Zac Veen making his major league debut, fans can only wait for first pitch of the game one on Tuesday, April 8 at 6:40 p.m. MT.