Feltner's strong run continues, but Rockies can't back him

SAN FRANCISCO -- Rockies right-hander Ryan Feltner’s start Saturday afternoon was strange -- full of elusive control and command but just enough good pitches in big spots to hold the Giants to one run in six innings.

But while he was good enough not to get left with another loss, there was little Feltner could do about the 4-1 loss in the first game of a doubleheader. And he was powerless when it came to becoming an answer to a couple of odd trivia questions.

• Who is the second Rockies pitcher to post an ERA of 2.60 or better through a six-start span and not earn a win? (The first was Jorge De La Rosa, who was 0-2 with a 2.37 ERA from April 17-May 15, 2009.)

• Who is the 10th pitcher of the Wild Card era, and the first since Jacob deGrom in 2014, with a sub-2.60 ERA over six starts in a single season yet have no wins and at least four losses in that span?

If your answer is Feltner, ding, ding.

And if monthly stats are your idea of trivia, Feltner has a 2.51 ERA in five starts, but with no wins for him or the Rockies. So Feltner will nitpick other things as he strives to show he should be included in future Rox rotations.

“That’s a good month,” Feltner said. “My [velocity] is down. I’m typically very velo-driven. If I’m able to have a [2.51 ERA] with not much velo, maybe that’s good.

“Some of my best games are ones where I didn’t have my best fastball, with [catcher Jacob] Stallings being able to identify what’s working. That has been huge.”

In 21 starts this season, Feltner is 1-10 with a 4.99 ERA. Feltner is usually capable of high strikeouts -- although his six on Saturday paled in comparison with Giants starter Blake Snell fanning 15 Rockies in six innings. But Saturday showed that Feltner can get by without his best stuff.

From walks to the first two batters in the game, Feltner was in trouble most moments he was on the mound. He yielded four hits and four walks.

“It's just kind of honestly weird visuals for me here,” Feltner said. “It's really deep behind home, and it feels a little odd to me. So it just took me a second to get used to it.”

The Rockies would love to visualize a victory at Oracle Park. It’s been a long time.

The 5-0 loss in the second game -- despite the best showing yet from prospect Tanner Gordon (four runs and five strikeouts in six innings), who was called up from Triple-A Albuquerque for the twin bill as the 27th man and returned immediately afterward -- was the Rockies’ 11th straight at Oracle Park. Among active Rockies losing streaks at any venue, it’s tied with the 11 straight they have dropped at Houston’s Minute Maid Park.

The Rockies struck out 13 times in the nightcap to raise the total for the day to 30 -- tied for second-most in a doubleheader since 1906. The record is 31, held by Phillies teams -- against the Mets on Oct. 2, 1965, and against the Pirates on Sept. 22, 1958. The Rockies’ 30-K ignominy tied the Nationals against the Mets on Oct. 3, 2015, and the Phillies against the Mets on Sept. 26, 1975.

But after the odd visuals in the beginning, Feltner found his targets and struck out Tyler Fitzgerald to end the first with men at second and third.

Matt Chapman’s second-inning homer was the only run off Feltner, as he overcame Mike Yastrzemski’s one-out triple by forcing a Brett Wisely infield grounder and striking out Jorge Soler. The biggest moment of Feltner’s master class in bobbing and weaving came when he ended the fourth by using a curveball to force Soler into a double-play grounder.

“He really made some big pitches when he needed to -- strikeouts, double-play balls. He hung in there against the guy that he needed to [Snell], so good for Ryan. He's had some tough ones for sure. Michael Toglia, a big swing [his 17th home run of the season, in the seventh off Ryan Walker] to tie the game, so both starting pitchers get no-decisions. I’m proud of Ryan.”

Errors by Toglia, who couldn’t scoop a throw from shortstop Ezequiel Tovar in the eighth, and pitcher Peter Lambert on a bad pickoff throw helped swing the game to the Giants.

Feltner’s name was entered into some less-than-wonderful lore in terms of the juxtaposition of good pitching and poor fortune. But he took care of the good pitching part.

“My curveball got better as the game went on -- fastball, slider, changeup were all great today,” Feltner said. “The bigger slider and the changeup weren’t great. I didn’t have it all but I was able to identify what was working.

“We found enough to have a relatively successful day.”