Rockies poor bullpen leads to opening series loss to Tampa Bay
The Colorado Rockies stormed into Steinbrenner Field hopeful, looking to begin their 2025 campaign on a positive note, facing a beatable opponent. However, they begin their season 1-2 after losing the first series of the year to the Tampa Bay Rays.
32-year-old Kyle Freeland got his fourth Opening Day start for the Rockies in game one and greatly exceed expectations. He retired the first 10 batters he faced and was attacking the zone, constantly getting ahead in counts forcing Tampa Bay hitters to make rushed decisions. He’d finish with a quality start, throwing six shutout innings and collecting seven punch outs along the way.
Ezequiel Tovar and Kyle Farmer had driven in two runs during Freeland’s innings, off an RBI double and sacrifice fly, respectively. It was a questionable call for manager Bud Black to pull Freeland after the sixth, especially for how dominant he had been in only 67 pitches
RHP Tyler Kinley struggled out of the bullpen, allowing the Rays to tie up the game off three hits while only recording one out. 22-year-old Angel Chivilli and Victor Vodnik limited the damage, however, getting the Rox out of the frame heading into the eighth with a 2-2 tie.
The Rockies would go down quiet in the top of the ninth, and it only took one pitch to Rays’ Kameron Misner to win the game, taking Vodnik to deep right field, winning the game for Tampa.
Florida gave three days of beautiful weather as Colorado came into game two with a breath of fresh air, looking to back up the anticipated return of Antonio Senzatela on the mound. He had an unordinary arrival, as the Rockies' defense had to show up to save multiple runs. His final stat line read nine hits, two walks and zero strikeouts across four and a third innings, with zero earned runs. Colorado’s fielding got out of two bases-loaded situations and caught two runners at home, sprinkling in gold-glove plays throughout the infield.
Doyle’s first hit of the year scored Nick Martini in the third, and Farmer tallied his second RBI in the seventh. With another marginal lead going into the bullpen innings, game two felt eerily similar to the opening day struggles.
After Luis Peralta, Jimmy Herget and Scott Alexander all got holds through the seventh, Chivilli returned to the bump and allowed an RBI line drive from Taylor Walls to make it a 2-1 game. Luckily, Seth Halvorsen itched the last four outs to collect the save and give the Rockies the victory.
This game saw an inconsistent yet spread out offensive attack, with one hit from six different Colorado bats. The Rays put together a far better offensive effort, but were unable to step-up in RBI opportunities, stranding 12 runners on base.
On Sunday, game three saw a big lineup switch from both teams. the Rockies took out Kris Bryant at designated hitter after he went 0-for-8 and slotted in the young Goodman, who had three hits. Tyler Freeman also saw his Rockies debut at the nine hole, who the team acquired for dealing Nolan Jones to Cleveland.
Ryan Feltner got the start on the mound and looked to need an early exit after surrendering three hits and a two-run homer in the top of the first, but salvaged his afternoon and ended up shoving through the five.
Colorado wouldn’t see any offense until the top of the fifth when Nick Martini slapped a grounder through the 3-4 gap to score Micheal Toglia. Black’s decision to ink in Goodman into the cleanup spot paid off in the sixth when he hit an RBI liner into left field to tie up the game 2-2.
Once the Rockies were gaining momentum and actually had a real chance to rally and win the series, they reminded fans that they’ve lost 204 games the last two seasons. A sequence of poor fielding and predictable pitching from Peralta and Kinley handed the Rays four runs in the bottom of the sixth to take a 6-2 lead.
Following newly-acquired Mickey Moniak’s two-run homer coming in to pinch-hit for Freeman, a five-batter rally in the top of the ninth was too little too late, as the Rockies dropped the game 6-4 and lost the series two games to one.
Although the negatives outweigh the positives in the Rox first three games, there is still a lot to be proud of. First, one thing that’s been the team’s downfall for years, starting pitching. Freeland, Senzatela and Feltner all combined for two earned runs in over fifteen innings. Especially after Freeland’s nightmare Opening Day start last season, the Rockies will take six shutout innings any day of the week.
Unsuspecting guys like Goodman and Martini provided sparks at the plate with four hits a piece, still with the veteran leadership of McMahon and three hits from Tovar. This lineup is still a bit always from being dangerous, but adding one or two consistent stars paired with sound starting pitching could add up to success quick.