Rotation gets boost from Feltner, Freeland

SAN DIEGO -- Rockies rookie Ryan Feltner deserved a chance to face Padres star Manny Machado one more time on Saturday afternoon.

And by taking advantage, forcing a soft fly ball to end the sixth inning, Feltner may have earned himself more chances in the Majors.

Recalled from Triple-A Albuquerque to start the first game of a doubleheader at Petco Park, Feltner dominated for the first five innings, then showed moxie in the face of trouble in the sixth.

The final decision, in which Feltner didn’t figure, was a 2-1, 10-inning Rockies loss, cemented on catcher Elias Díaz’s wild throw to third base after he had blocked a Carlos Estévez pitch in the dirt.

But Feltner’s performance, followed by six strong innings from Kyle Freeland in the Rockies’ 6-2 nightcap victory, made for a good day for Rockies pitching. The starting rotation is finding traction, even though the team hasn’t shaken its recent struggles. Seven of the team’s last nine games have featured quality starts -- six or more innings pitched, three or fewer earned runs.

“We had three good ones in San Francisco; Chad [Kuhl] wasn’t on top of his game the first night here,” manager Bud Black said. “But Feltner was great, and Kyle was very solid.

“Feltner, I liked the way he came out of the chute, with a good, crisp fastball. His slider had good action, and he mixed in the curve and change aggressively. The ball-strike ratio was good. He was on the attack from pitch one.”

The only hit off Feltner in the first five frames was Trent Grisham’s third-inning home run. But with two down in the sixth, the right-hander yielded a single to Jurickson Profar and a walk to Jake Cronenworth.

But there was no way Black was removing him.

“Buddy signaled to me from the dugout to take a deep breath, calm down,” Feltner said. “That was a big spot.”

The Rockies would rather not have to look at growth moments instead of results. They were hoping for both when pitching coach Darryl Scott visited Feltner on the mound with Machado approaching the batter’s box.

“You go out there as a pitching coach or manager and you want to feel where the heart rate is and see where he is at mentally, and he was calm,” said Scott, who could check off that box and discuss strategy with Feltner and catcher Brian Serven.

Feltner had struck out Machado twice, on a down and out 98.1 mph sinker in the first inning, and on a well-placed slider in the fourth. But facing him with a 1-1 tie and his pitch count climbing could’ve been a daunting task.

“He’s a great hitter,” Feltner said. “I knew I had to adjust my plan a little bit, based on the first two times that he saw me. So, I was making sure I was making the right pitches in the right spots.”

Feltner used the last three of his 93 pitches to end the frame with Machado’s popout to first base. He ended it with a slider that Machado reached with the end of his bat. Feltner kept the Rockies in the game while their hitters were not taking advantage of multiple innings in which the leadoff hitter reached.

The 25-year-old Feltner, a fourth-round Draft pick in 2018 out of Ohio State University, held the Padres to two hits and struck out six for his third solid start in his last four outings. In those games, against the Pirates, Marlins and Padres, he has held opponents to four runs on nine hits in 18 innings. Feltner struggled in his previous outing, when he gave up six runs on seven hits in just three innings during a home loss to the Braves on Sunday. The Rockies optioned him to Albuquerque after that game but needed him for Saturday’s scheduled twin bill.

On Saturday, Feltner touched 98 mph with a fastball in the first inning. Most important, he attacked the strike zone with his off-speed pitches. His slider and curveball had been weapons in earlier games, and this time he went to his changeup -- a pitch he hasn’t had much feel for this season.

“As we went through the scouting report, our plan was to attack with the fastball, and put every one of his pitches in play,” Scott said. “Let’s not save anything. That was what he had been working on in Triple-A.”

In the nightcap, a steady offensive performance and the control problems of heretofore hot Padres rookie MacKenzie Gore (six runs on five hits and four walks in 2 1/3 innings) staked Freeland to a 6-0 lead. Freeland was not as smooth as Feltner, but he pitched around three hits and two walks and held the Padres to two runs.

“Especially pitching against two teams that are near the top of the NL West, I think it’s a good sign for us,” Freeland said. “We just need to keep that momentum, building start to start.”