The education of Ryan Feltner continued Sunday with another painful lesson.
The Rockies’ hard-throwing right-hander handled the Pirates with aplomb for five innings, but Feltner’s command deserted him in a four-run sixth inning. The result was a 5-3 loss at PNC Park that prevented the free-falling Rockies from winning their first series of the season.
Colorado entered the sixth leading 3-1, and Feltner had just pitched a super-sharp one-two-three fifth. But then Feltner’s slider flattened out, and the Pirates jumped on the misplaced pitch in the pivotal sixth.
Connor Joe led off with a single, followed by a Bryan Reynolds double to right. Ke’Bryan Hayes’s ground out to shortstop scored Joe to make it 3-2.
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The Pirates took a 4-3 lead when Oneil Cruz hunted Feltner’s 0-1 slider and drove it 429 feet to center for a two-run homer. Rowdy Tellez’s double of the right-field wall and Jack Suwinski’s RBI single nailed down another Rockies’ defeat.
The Rockies finished their road trip 1-7 and now own an 8-26 record, the worst in the National League. They are on pace to finish the season 38-124.
The Rockies’ offense, which has been so tepid this season, scored in just one inning, a three-run sixth that featured back-to-back doubles by Jacob Stallings and Sean Bouchard. Brendan Rodgers sparked the rally with a one-out double and trotted home on Stalling’s blast to center off Pittsburgh right-hander Bailey Falter. Bouchard followed with a solo homer to left.
Bouchard also hit a two-out double in the ninth but was stranded when pinch-hitter Jake Cave struck out looking.
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