Feltner's scoreless outing just what the doctor ordered

PHILADELPHIA -- Every time Ryan Feltner takes the mound, Bud Black views it as a learning experience. Thursday night’s lesson for the young right-hander? How to be a stopper when your team needs it the most.

Feltner threw 5 2/3 scoreless innings against the Phillies, leading the Rockies to a much-needed 5-0 win that snapped the club’s eight-game losing streak. Feltner allowed three hits and three walks, striking out six to pick up his first victory of 2023.

“He’s learned a lot even this year in a small sample size; I think he's really starting to understand what he needs to do to be successful,” Black said. “Tonight was an indication of what he can do against a good lineup on the road. We were scuffling and he stepped up.”

Feltner had the comfort of a lead before he even took the mound in the series opener thanks to C.J. Cron's two-run blast against Matt Strahm in the top of the first inning.

The 26-year-old retired the top of the Phillies’ lineup in order in the home half of the first, then worked around a leadoff hit and a two-out walk in the second. He caught a groove from there, sitting down nine of his next 11 batters through the fifth.

“To have Crony put a good swing on one in the first inning is a kind of a momentum-builder for the entire team,” Feltner said. “I definitely fed off that and I know the rest of the team did, as well.”

Colorado had been outscored by 40 runs (64-24) during its losing streak, the rotation posting a bloated 9.92 ERA in the process. Having allowed 33 runs during this week’s home sweep at the hands of the Pirates -- and requiring 18 innings of work from the bullpen in those losses -- the Rockies were in dire need of a solid outing by Feltner.

José Ureña -- who is slated to start Sunday’s series finale -- was available for long relief had the need presented itself, though hopefully only in a “break glass in case of emergency” type of situation.

“You have to plan for that,” Black said prior to the game. “You hope it doesn't happen. We're going to try to get as much out of Feltner as we can.”

Feltner knew that and formulated a plan designed to help him get the distance Colorado desperately needed.

“It's tough, because you don't ever want to think like that as a pitcher and put extra pressure on yourself,” Feltner said. “But I definitely went in with a game plan of attacking the zone early, getting strike one over the middle of the plate and going from there. A little bit more aggressive game plan, for sure.”

The plan worked. Feltner threw 58 of his 84 pitches for strikes, 17 of them coming on the first pitch of an at-bat; he started all but six of the Phillies he faced off with strike one.

“The ball-strike ratio was great, the fastball had movement, he had a good changeup, and that little slider-cutter, I think he has confidence in when he can command it,” Black said. “Zeroing in on the strike zone was the ticket for him.”

Having allowed just two singles and two walks over the first five frames, Feltner gave up a one-out single by Kyle Schwarber in the sixth, then issued a two-out walk to Brandon Marsh. Even with a 4-0 lead, Black didn’t waste any time, calling in Justin Lawrence to put out the fire.

J.T. Realmuto reached on an infield single to load the bases, but Lawrence caught Alec Bohm looking at strike three, preserving the shutout. Lawrence fired a perfect seventh, but just as Feltner knew his team needed length from him, Lawrence wasn’t giving his manager any choice but to send him back out for the eighth.

“He came in and said, ‘I'm going back out,’” Black said. “I said, ‘Beautiful.’”

Lawrence put a pair of runners on in the eighth before striking out Realmuto, his fourth punchout in 2 1/3 scoreless innings.

“You want to take that momentum from Feltner’s good start,” Lawrence said. “Keep it rolling for the rest of that game.”

Right-hander Pierce Johnson closed out the ninth, allowing the Rockies to exhale and retreat to the clubhouse as winners for the first time in 10 days.

“It's fun, man,” Lawrence said. “I believe in every single one of these guys. I think we have a very good team and we can get on a roll -- if we do, it could be dangerous.”