Punchless Rockies lose frigid home opener to A's in 11 innings

Patrick Saunders, The Denver Post on Apr 4, 2025

Published in Baseball

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DENVER — An announced sellout crowd of 48,105 braved snow and frigid temperatures for the home opener at Coors Field Friday afternoon.

The Rockies gave them a cold shoulder, losing 6-3 to the Athletics in 11 innings in a game that took 3 hours and 21 minutes. The A’s won the game with a two-out, two-run double to right by Gio Urshela off right-hander Angel Chivilli.

Not many fans remained at the game’s end, but those frozen few booed the punchless Rockies, who fell to 1-6, tying the worst start through seven games in franchise history.

The strikeout-prone Rockies whiffed 14 times, hit 1 for 15 with runners in scoring position and left 13 stranded.

The Rockies tied the game, 3-3, in a funky eighth inning.

Kyle Farmer hit a one-out double to left field, where the ball stuck underneath the wall. A’s left fielder Miguel Andujar raised his hands, calling for a ground-rule double. Farmer, however, kept on chugging and thought he had an inside-the-park homer to tie the game.

Upon review, the umpires ruled that the ball “had lodged” under the wall and ruled the play a ground-rule double. The fans howled their displeasure, but it was the correct call. In the end, it really didn’t matter because Jordan Beck came through with an RBI single to score pinch runner Tyler Freeman, who was running for Farmer.

The first pitch came with snowflakes and 37 degrees, tying it with the 2004 game as the second-coldest home opener in franchise history. The coldest home opener was in 2018 (27 degrees). The game ended with a temperature of 32 degrees.

Head-scratching defense cost the Rockies in the sixth and gave the A’s a 3-2 lead.

Tyler Soderstrom led off with a single and raced to third on Miguel Andujar’s double to left. But Rockies Gold Glove shortstop Ezequiel Tovar threw the ball away, allowing Soderstrom to score.

The A’s took a 1-0 lead in the first, stringing together two-out singles by JJ Bleday, Shea Langeliers and Soderstrom off of Ryan Feltner. Colorado tied the game in the bottom of the frame on a one-out triple by Tovar and a sacrifice fly by Ryan McMahon, who worked a 12-pitch at-bat off right-hander Osvaldo Bido.

Jacob Wilson’s one-out solo homer to left off Feltner put the Athletics ahead 2-1 in the fourth. Colorado immediately counterpunched, trying the game on a leadoff single by Michael Toglia, who scored from first on Kyle Farmer’s double to right.

Feltner gave the Rockies a workmanlike five innings, yielding three runs (two earned) on eight hits, striking out four and walking one. It was a step down from Colorado’s otherworldly starting pitching through the season’s first six games when the rotation posted a major league-best 1.35 ERA.