There is the old saying “Better late than never.” Unfortunately for the Colorado Rockies, the offense arrived a little too late and fell just short as they suffered a 7-6 loss to the Phillies for another sweep and series loss.

Trailing for most of the game, the Rockies rallied for five runs in the top of the eighth to crawl back within a run but fell short of the big hit with a runner on second in the ninth as Jose Alvarado closed the door to secure the victory for the Phillies

For just the second time this season, the Rockies managed to score first, this time doing so in the first inning. Ezequiel Tovar and Brenton Doyle both singled to begin the game and Tovar came in to score on a groundout from Elias Diaz. From the early happenings, it looked like the Rockies could carry some momentum through the game offensively.

Unfortunately, Philadelphia quickly erased the one-run deficit and put up four runs in the bottom of the first. Facing off against Rockies starter Ryan Feltner, Kyle Schwarber and Trea Turner greeted him with back-to-back home runs to quickly take a 2-1 lead. A single by J.T. Realmuto, an RBI double from Alec Bohm, and an RBI single from Brandon Marsh quickly put the Phillies ahead 4-1 after the first inning.

A running theme for the Rockies has been a difficult first inning followed by a strong outing and such was the case again for Feltner. After the four-run first inning, Feltner pitched into the sixth, allowing just two more runs. He pitched 5 1/3 innings, allowing six runs on nine hits with eight strikeouts and two walks.

Turned led off the fifth inning with a double and eventually came around to score on a groundout from Realmuto to give the Phillies a 5-1 lead. After striking out Bryson Stott to begin the sixth, Johan Rojas laced a double to center field to chase Feltner from the game.

With a runner on second and Schwarber coming up to the plate, the Rockies turned to Peter Lambert out of the bullpen. Lambert offered up a 1-1 fastball at the top of the zone that Schwarber launched into right field for his second homer of the game to give the Phillies a commanding 7-1 lead. Lambert finished out the inning and pitched a clean seventh before the Rockies bats had a chance to come alive.

Despite his strong numbers, the Phillies had yet to win any of the previous three starts by Cristopher Sánchez. With a similar profile to Ranger Suárez who handcuffed the Rockies in his complete game shutout, Sánchez handled the Rockies with ease after the first inning. He pitched six full innings on 97 pitches, scattering five hits and striking out 10 batters against just one walk to earn his first victory of the year.

Gregory Soto replaced Yunior Marte out of the bullpen in the eighth inning and the Rockies went to work battling against him. The Rockies managed to quickly load the bases on three straight singles from Doyle, Ryan McMahon, and Diaz which set up a sacrifice fly from Elehuris Montero to score the Rockies’ first run since the first. Sean Bouchard, playing in his first game of the year after being called up to replace Kris Bryant who was placed on the 10-day injured list, drew a walk to load the bases again. Michael Toglia then drew a walk to score another run and bring the Rockies a grand slam away from tying the game.

The Phillies turned to Jeff Hoffmann out of the bullpen to face pinch hitter Charlie Blackmon who promptly hit a ground ball to first that scored another run and advanced the runners. The Rockies loaded the bases once again thanks to a walk of Jacob Stallings, setting the stage for Tovar once again. The young shortstop laced a single into left field to score a pair of runs and make it a 7-6 ballgame, but that is where it would end after Doyle squared up a ball that was caught easily by Marsh in left field.

5-run frame 😤 pic.twitter.com/bBAHvwzGVN

— Colorado Rockies (@Rockies) April 18, 2024

The Rockies threatened with two outs in the top of the ninth after Montero singled and Nolan Jones was able to steal second base as a pinch runner, but Jose Alvarado escaped the threat by getting Bouchard to pop up to end the end.

After scoring 12 runs on 20 hits with 11 extra-base hits in their first game of the road trip, the Rockies have scored only five runs on 26 hits with five extra-base hits leading up to that eighth inning. The inconsistency and struggles for the Rockies’ offense have been a problem for the first couple weeks of the season.

“I think tonight was an example of the chase coming back to haunt us.” Bud Black said after the game, “It’s come back to chase with a lot of our younger hitters. The chase rate’s something we talked about in Spring Training, we start talking about it last September, it hasn’t come to fruition as far as a group laying off the low breaking ball.”

On the night Tovar went 3-for-5 while McMahon and Stallings were the only other hitters with multi-hit games for the Rockies. For the Phillies Schwarber had two hits, both home runs, while Turner had three hits and was a triple shy of the cycle.

Up Next

The Rockies will have an off day on Thursday before welcoming the Seattle Mariners and San Diego Padres to Coors Field for a seven-game homestand starting on Friday.