Bad Rockies start hits new low in collapse to NL’s worst team

It looked as if the Colorado Rockies would snap their 28-game streak of trailing at some point in every game.

And then came the bottom of the ninth inning against one of just two teams with a record worse than their own.

Leading by the same 5-0 lead that they’d had since exploding in the top of the first inning in a near-empty LoanDepot Park on Tuesday night, the Rockies crumbled, allowing the Miami Marlins to tie the game in the ninth and then win it in the bottom of the 10th, falling 7-6.

It was the Rockies’ 22nd loss of the season and the 29th-straight game in which they trailed at some point to start the season. According to Patrick Lyons of Just Baseball, it is the longest such streak to open a campaign in Major League Baseball history.

But for most of Tuesday evening, it appeared as if it would end.

Colorado sent its entire lineup to the plate in the bottom of the first inning, with four-straight base hits — including a 3-run blast by Elehuris Montero — giving the Rockies a 5-0 lead they held for nearly the entire game.

The pitching of Ryan Feltner was the biggest reason why. He started the bottom of the ninth inning just three outs from a complete-game shutout, having allowed just three hits in eight innings. But he opened the ninth inning with two base hits sandwiching a hit batter.

Bud Black inserted Justin Lawrence for Feltner, but Lawrence failed to squelch the Marlins’ rally. In his worst appearance since the home opener, he allowed four baserunners — including a second hit batter in the inning — before finally recording an out.

“We shot ourselves in the foot a little bit with the two hit-by-pitches,” manager Bud Black said. “… Justin’s sinker was up, with the two line drives up the middle.”

The only out Lawrence recorded was productive for Miami — a game-tying Emmanuel Rivera sacrifice fly that forced extra innings. Jalen Beeks relieved Lawrence after Rivera’s sac fly and escaped without further damage.

Colorado took a 6-5 lead in the top of the 10th as Ryan McMahon’s two-out double scored Sean Bouchard, who started the 10th inning as the “Manfred Man” on second base.

But after retiring Luis Arraez to start the bottom of the 10th, Beeks surrendered back-to-back base hits — a Bryan De La Cruz double and a Dane Myers single. De La Cruz knocked in the tying run from second; Myers than singled home the game-winning run, although the Rockies had a chance to make the play, as Hunter Goodman delivered a perfect throw to catcher Elias Díaz as De La Cruz sprinted for home. But Díaz lost the ball, and De La Cruz reached around and tagged home plate to end the game.

It was a stunning, crushing end to a month that has seen the Rockies lumber to their worst 29-game start in club history. At 7-22 after April, they’re two games worse than they were at the same point last year and a game worse than an 8-21 2005 opening that was the previous low standard for this point in a campaign.

The collapse spoiled the major-league debut of ballyhooed prospect Jordan Beck, who went 2-for-4 batting from the eighth spot in the lineup. The Rockies promoted Beck from AAA Albuquerque earlier Tuesday after putting Nolan Jones on the injured list. Beck boasted a .999 OPS in Albuquerque before the call-up.

Colorado plays two more games against Miami before a three-game series in Pittsburgh this weekend.