Colorado Rockies match worst 10-game start in club history
Apr 7, 2024, 5:04 PM | Updated: 5:13 pm
(Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images)
(Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images)
DENVER — The catastrophic run differential that the Colorado Rockies carried through the first six games of the season has ebbed. But the mounting frustration remains.
A late-inning flurry was not enough Sunday as the Tampa Bay Rays’ bullpen held on to deal the Rockies a 3-2 defeat that dropped them to 2-8, matching the 2005 team for the worst 10-game start in club history.
Colorado struck out a season-high 15 times.
The loss marked the 16th-straight game in which the opposition scored first. No team has endured that since the 1989 San Francisco Giants.
“The worm will turn on the big hit. We’ll get the lead at some point here and hopefully our pitchers will make it hold up,” manager Bud Black said.
Tampa Bay did all of its damage in the second and third innings, scoring its 3 runs via 3 singles and 3 doubles.
The Colorado Rockies held down the Rays from that point forward, but a chance at a big eighth inning petered out when Kris Bryant hit into a bases-loaded, inning-ending 6-4-3 double play.
Bryant, who sat out Saturday’s game with back tightness, returned, working as the designated hitter Sunday.
But after the twin killing, Bryant found himself the target of boos from the announced crowd of 25,566 — just as he endured after striking out with the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth inning Friday.
DAKOTA HUDSON DELIVERS A QUALITY START
In his first home start since joining the Colorado Rockies this season, Dakota Hudson went 6 innings, allowing 3 earned runs on 7 hits and a walk. Unfortunately for Hudson and the Rockies, four of those hits came in succession with 2 outs in the top of the second, leading to a pair of runs.
Hudson allowed an RBI single to Isaac Paredes in the third inning and then settled down, retiring 10 of the next 12 batters and inducing a sixth-inning 5-4-3 double play over the balance of his day.
Hudson leads Rockies starters in ERA and ranks second behind Ryan Feltner in WHIP after two turns through the rotation.
“I felt like I was able to move the fastball around and mix some speeds,” Hudson said. “I felt like (catcher Jacob) Stallings called a great game for me.
“I could have taken back a few pitches as far as execution goes, but I’m trying to nit-pick myself a little bit and find a way to get better each outing.”
Hudson’s performance was the second-consecutive quality start for the Rockies. Feltner threw six innings of 1-run ball Saturday night before the Rays stormed back against Colorado’s bullpen.
