Rockies undone by walks, Dodgers’ big inning, fall to 3-14

Rockies Report, Game 18:

ROCKIES BOTTOM LINE: An early parade of walks came back to haunt the Rox, pushing them in an early 5-0 hole en route to a 6-2 loss at Dodger Stadium on Tuesday night.

The defeat sealed the sixth consecutive series loss to open the season for Colorado. Last year, the team lost seven consecutive series to open the campaign.

Recent callups Zac Veen and Adael Amador combined to go 1-for-8. Jacob Stallings provided the offense with a 2-RBI double in the fourth inning.

The outcome could have been far worse. Los Angeles left 12 men on base and twice left the bases loaded. Relievers Jake Bird and Seth Halvorsen danced out of those sacks-full jams, and the bullpen delivered 5 1/3 innings of solid work, yielding a single run.

STARTER’S REPORT: Ryan Feltner’s first 11 pitches were strikes as he opened with a 1-2-3 first inning.

But matters devolved quickly, and he didn’t even make it through three innings, finishing with the shortest start for any Rockies starter so far this season. Every Colorado starter had made it into at least the fifth inning prior to Tuesday; Feltner was pulled with one out left in the third.

Walks sent Feltner’s pitch count soaring. In the second, Feltner yielded free passes to Michael Conforto and Max Muncy, which sandwiched a Tommy Edman single to load the bases. Only a 6-4-3 double play limited the damage in that frame.

There was no such respite in the third. Feltner walked Shohei Ohtani and Freddie Freeman, then saw Will Smith drop a 3-run homer just over the left-field wall, pushing Los Angeles’ lead to 4-0. Feltner retired Conforto, but allowed the next four Dodgers to reach base, at which point Bud Black pulled the plug.

Feltner allowed six walks and five hits in 2 2/3 innings of work. The five runs charged to him were all earned.

IT WAS DECIDED FOR THE ROCKIES WHEN: Kyle Farmer took strike three on the outside corner in the top of the seventh inning with runners on second and third, ending a threat with Colorado down 5-2. Farmer has been the Rockies’ hottest player on an otherwise chilly offense during this road trip, but he went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts Tuesday.

ROCKIES NUMBER TO NOTE: 59 — Percent of the 22 teams that started 3-14 or worse in the 162-game era that ended up losing at least 100 games in that season. Just one of those 22 finished above .500; the 1996 Boston Red Sox recovered from a 3-14 start to end up 85-77.

ROCKIES UNIFORM: Black hat with purple bill, gray jersey, gray pants. Colorado is now 0-5 in this outfit.

WHAT’S NEXT: Germán Márquez looks for his first quality start since March 31 in the series finale and the last game of the SoCal road trip — one that sees Colorado still searching for its first win of the voyage. First pitch is scheduled for 8:10 p.m. MDT.

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