After totaling 16 runs over their first two games at home, the Colorado Rockies had zero answers against the Tampa Bay Rays as the bats went silent and they lost 3-2 to drop their third straight series of the season.

For 16 straight games, dating back to 2023, the Rockies have failed to score first in a game. That stretch is the longest in MLB since the 1989 San Francisco Giants and is a further indication of the struggles the team has faced offensively despite some of the positive signs of late.

Making his 13th career start, Ryan Pepiot dominated Rockies hitters for six innings. He induced 21 swing and misses, including 13 on his fastball which resulted in a career-high 11 strikeouts. He surrendered just three hits while issuing zero walks on 94 pitches, 67 of which went for strikes. It was the second time that Pepiot had dominated the Rockies at Coors Field, the last time coming when he was a member of the Los Angeles Dodgers. He became the first visiting pitcher to have 11+ strikeouts, zero walks, and zero runs allowed against the Rockies in Colorado.

Ryan Pepiot's 10th and 11th Ks. pic.twitter.com/o0LCnofdIQ

— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) April 7, 2024

Lost in the dominance of Pepoit was the quality start from Rockies starter Dakota Hudson. Making his first start at Coors Field as a Rockie, Hudson struggled early on but found his footing as the game went on. After a quick first inning, the Rays strung together four straight two-out hits, including a pair of doubles, to take an early 2-0 lead. Another double and single in the third inning would make it 3-0 but Hudson would not allow any further damage. In his six innings, he allowed three runs on seven hits, striking out four and walking one. He induced six groundouts and five flyouts while throwing 88 pitches, 62 for strikes, and also had 11 swing and misses. It was the second-straight decent outing for the Rockies’ number-five starter as he looked comfortable in his first start at home this year.

In the bottom of the seventh, the Rockies had their first scoring threat against the Rays bullpen after Kris Bryant drew a one-out walk and advanced on a Nolan Jones single against Garrett Cleavinger. However, Cleavinger struck out Michael Toglia before giving way to Phil Maton who promptly struck out Brenton Doyle.

After the bullpen struggled the past two days, the Rockies found some much-needed stability out of rookie reliever Victor Vodnik.  Entering the day with 5 2/3 scoreless innings, the hard-throwing righty tossed two shutout innings, although he did issue two walks but did have one strikeout.

The lockdown outing from Vodnik gave the Rockies a chance to counter against Maton in the eighth inning. Turning to his bench, manager Bud Black sent veteran outfielder Jake Cave out to pinch hit. Cave has had a strong start to the season and on April 3 in Chicago, delivered a crucial pinch-hit double. He continued that trend on Sunday with a leadoff triple off the bench to kick things off. Another pinch-hit single by Elias Diaz scored Cave to put the Rockies on the board and give the team some life. Back-to-back walks to Charlie Blackmon and Ezequiel Tovar then loaded the bases for Ryan McMahon, forcing the Rays to turn to Shawn Armstrong.

Jake rakes 💪 pic.twitter.com/ElyZefXk8t

— Colorado Rockies (@Rockies) April 7, 2024

McMahon, the grand slam hero from Friday, bounced a grounder to third base where the Rays infield was playing in and promptly got the force out at home. Armstrong was then able to get ahead of Bryant 0-2 and induced an inning-ending double play to end the bases-loaded threat.

The Rockies would keep up the pressure in the top of the ninth against Armstrong. Jones led the inning off with a walk and advanced to second on a fielder’s choice before scoring on a single by Doyle to get the Rockies back within one with a runner at first. Unfortunately for the Rockies, a strikeout of Cave and a ground out by Diaz ended the ballgame.

On the day the Rockies struck out 15 times against four walks while tallying seven hits, including a triple and a double. Jones and Doyle both had two hits but the strikeouts continue to highlight a major problem for the team that has no signs of changing.

For the Rays, they tallied eight hits with Jose Siri going 2-for-4 along with Austin Shenton who had the first two hits of his big league career. They struck out just six times as a team and drew three walks while going 3-for-8 with runners in scoring position.

Up next

The Rockies will welcome the Arizona Diamondbacks for a three-game series starting on Monday. Kyle Freeland (0-2, 27.00 ERA) will square off against Zac Gallen (2-0, 0.82 ERA) in a rematch from Opening Day. Freeland looks to try and right the ship after a rough first two outings, especially against the Diamondbacks who scored 10 runs on 10 hits against him in his first start. The Diamondbacks come into the series off the heels of being swept by the Atlanta Braves over the weekend.