The Rockies’ attempted two-man heist of the Phillies’ home opener needed more men for the job.
German Marquez dazzled, throwing six shutout innings in his 2025 debut after missing most of the last two seasons due to injury. And catcher Hunter Goodman blasted a 405-foot homer to put the Rockies up 1-0 in the sixth.
But the Marquez-Goodman battery couldn’t do it all, and got no help from nearly anyone else. Philadelphia roared back with a four-run seventh en route to a 6-1 victory to drop Colorado to 1-3 on the young season.
In the decisive frame, southpaw Scott Alexander got two outs before giving up a double and a walk. Manager Bud Black tabbed right-hander Victor Vodnik to escape the jam, but the Phillies torched him.
First, a hanging slider made it 2-1 off Edmundo Sosa’s two-run double, then Kyle Schwarber hammered a belt-high 99-mph fastball off the batters’ eye in center field — a 434-foot blast that came off the bat at 106.6 mph. That made it 4-1, and was all she wrote for the Rockies in the series opener.
After striking out 31 times against Tampa Bay, the Rockies added 13 more Ks on Monday. Colorado registered only six hits, and three were singles from Brenton Doyle.
The disastrous seventh negated a feel-good outing by Marquez, who made just four starts in 2023 before undergoing Tommy John surgery, and then one start in ’24 before being shut down due to a stress reaction in his elbow. On 83 pitches, Marquez walked none and struck out four, including a 98 mph heater up and in to strike out J.T. Realmuto to finish off the sixth. It was the hardest pitch Easy Cheese threw all day.
Meanwhile, Goodman — who had a sizzling spring training — helped out his pitcher. In addition to his towering homer to center on a hanging slider that ended the day for Phillies’ Cristopher Sanchez, Goodman helped Marquez work out of a jam.
With two outs in the fifth and Schwarber at the dish with runners on second and third, Goodman made a pair of impressive blocks on curves in the dirt. One early in the count prevented a run from scoring on a wild pitch, and another on strike three sealed the strikeout of Schwarber after Goodman hummed the ball down to first.
Philadelphia added on in the eighth, when Max Kepler and Nick Castellanos hit back-to-back homers off right-hander Bradley Blalock in the span of four pitches.
Colorado’s starting pitching has been the club’s highlight through a 1-3 start.
Kyle Freeland, Antonio Senzatela, Ryan Feltner and Marquez have combined to allow just two earned runs, both of which were by Feltner in five innings against Tampa Bay on Sunday. It’s been good for a 0.84 ERA, and the fewest amount of runs allowed by the starting pitchers through the first four games of a season in club history.
Colorado is off on Tuesday before the three-game series resumes on Wednesday and concludes on Thursday. The Rockies’ home opener is Friday at Coors Field against the Athletics.
Wednesday’s pitching matchup
After an off-day on Tuesday, the three-game series in Philadelphia resumes on Wednesday.
Rockies LHP Kyle Freeland (0-0, 0.00) at Phillies RHP Zack Wheeler (0-0, 1.50), 4:45 p.m.
4:45 p.m. Wednesday, Citizens Bank Park
TV: Rockies.TV (streaming); Comcast/Xfinity (channel 1262); DirecTV (683); Spectrum (130, 445, 305, 435 or 445, depending on region).
Radio: 850 AM, 94.1 FM
Trending: With all the hullabaloo coming out of the Bronx following the Yankees’ 15 homers through their first three games, aided by the Torpedo bat, perhaps the Rockies should look into bowling pin bats. Entering Monday, Colorado was tied with the Astros and Mets for the fewest homers in the majors with just one dinger.
Pitching probables
- Thursday: Rockies RHP Antonio Senzatela (0-0, 0.00) at Phillies RHP Taijuan Walker (3-7, 7.10 in 2024)
- Friday: Athletics RHP Osvaldo Bido (1-0, 1.80) at Rockies TBA, 2:10 p.m. (Colorado’s home opener)
Want more Rockies news? Sign up for the Rockies Insider to get all our MLB analysis.