Rockies’ struggles to win series continue with 9-6 loss to Reds
After a Sunday slugfest against Cincinnati, the Colorado Rockies are on to Washington.
It may not have the dramatic flair of a Bill Belichick line, but manager Warren Schaeffer was ready to flush Sunday’s 9-6 loss that featured eight combined home runs and focus more on winning the homestand rather than the series the Rockies just lost.
“Same team battling and fighting,” Schaeffer said. “Every game is different. We were down big after two innings. It’s real hard to come back after that, but we kept fighting.
“It’s just one series where we lost. We move on to the next and look forward to playing the Nationals tomorrow.”
Prior to the All-Star Game break that ended on Friday, Colorado had won nine series so far this season. That’s the first time since 2023 that the Rockies had captured that many before the Midsummer Classic.
However, Sunday’s loss continued a troubling trend. The Rockies are now 3-10 in series rubber matches this season, a .231 winning percentage that is the lowest of any MLB team.
The optimist would say that the Rockies are just that close to capturing plenty more series. The pessimist would point out that Colorado still has a way to go to figure out how to win when it arguably matters most.
“I talk about winning every day is important, and the focus of winning every day, but we do put an emphasis on series for sure,” Schaeffer said on Friday before taking on the Reds. “I don’t want to compare to last year. I know we can be a winning team in the second half. I know that we can. It’s just a matter of going out there and doing it.”
The Rockies, now 40-61 on the season, were a model of inconsistency in the Reds series.
Colorado’s offense didn’t show up and the bullpen was a nightmare in Friday’s 7-2 loss.
The next day, the Rockies benefited from a fantastic Tomoyuki Sugano start and pieced together five two-out singles to kickstart a four-run second inning as part of a 10-3 win.
On Sunday, Ryan Feltner’s first-inning meltdown was enough to give the Reds five runs and plenty of momentum to finish off the series before heading to Seattle. Colorado’s offense was limited to just four hits by Cincinnati starter Hunter Greene before rallying against the Reds bullpen, thanks in part to Hunter Goodman’s third home run of the day in the eighth inning.
That same inconsistency plagued the Rockies through the first two months of the season but seemed to be on the back burner in June and the first part of July. In that span, Colorado’s offense plated 227 runs, the second-most of any MLB team behind Milwaukee’s 231. The Rockies also led all MLB teams in extra-base hits with 151 and a combined .820 OPS during that time.
This series against the Reds was just three games, and the Rockies averaged six runs per game against Cincinnati, topping the average of 5.1 runs per home contest coming into Sunday. That’s a sign that Goodman believes some of these close series losses will turn into wins.
“Our offense has been really good, and I expect us to keep getting better,” Goodman said.
Reds 9, Rockies 6
What happened: Cincinnati jumped out to a 5-0 first-inning lead thanks to home runs from Nathaniel Lowe and Tyler Stephenson and never looked back. The Reds ended up with four homers on the day, including a pair from Stephenson, to outslug Colorado.
On the mound: Colorado starter Ryan Feltner labored through 71 pitches and made it through just 2 1/3 innings, his shortest outing of the season. He gave up eight runs, tying a career-high that he first established in a start against Cincinnati at Coors Field on June 3, 2024. His three home runs allowed also tied a career-high.
At the plate: Hunter Goodman was Colorado’s offense on Sunday, launching his 28th, 29th and 30th home runs of the season. After hitting 13 home runs in June, his trio of blasts against the Reds moved him to just four in July. It was his 10th career multihomer game and fifth of the season and he became the first Rockies player to have two three-homer games in the same year.
What’s next: Colorado welcomes the Washington Nationals to Coors Field to open a three-game series on Monday night. The Rockies’ Kyle Freeland (2-8, 7.36 ERA) is scheduled to be opposed by Washington’s Andrew Alvarez (2-3, 4.04 ERA).