DENVER — Brenton Doyle and Ryan Feltner donned capes on Thursday to salvage the final game of a sour opening homestand.

Doyle had three hits and tied his career high with five RBIs, delivering the opening punch with a leadoff homer and then the knockout blow with a bases-clearing double in the eighth. Meanwhile, Feltner continued to pitch like a rotational pillar, with three hits, seven strikeouts and one earned run across six innings as his ERA stands at 2.81.

That duo spearheaded a 7-2 victory over Milwaukee at Coors Field, atoning for getting thumped in the first two games of the series as Colorado notched its third win of 2025 amid a 2-4 homestand.

“Timely hitting, solid pitching … That’s what it’s supposed to look like,” Rockies manager Bud Black said. “A big day by Doyle … and Feltner cinched his belt, got out of a bases-loaded situation with no outs and threw up two more zeros after that.”

Doyle started the game with a bang, blasting his third homer 391 feet down the left-field line on a hanging slider. It was Doyle’s second leadoff homer of the season and third of his career.

That gave Feltner an early cushion en route to another solid outing.

After setting down the first six Brewers he faced, the right-hander worked around a two-out error by Tyler Freeman in the third. The second baseman bobbled a routine grounder by Brice Turang, putting runners on the corners, but Feltner got Jackson Chourio to ground out to end the threat.

As the Colorado offense went dormant against Brewers right-hander Quinn Priester, Feltner worked out of another jam in the fourth, this one self-induced. Feltner gave up consecutive doubles to start the frame to Christian Yelich and William Contreras, tying the game 1-1. Then he temporarily lost control, with two straight walks — and balls in 11 of 12 pitches during a three-batter stretch — before a lineout by Joey Ortiz settled him back in.

With the bases loaded, Feltner K’d Oliver Dunn on three pitches, and then struck out Eric Haase on four pitches. The normally stoic Feltner let out a couple of roars as he walked off the mound and back into the dugout.

“I proved a lot to myself in that moment, and those are moments in the past that maybe I wouldn’t have gotten through,” said Feltner, who was battling the flu. “(The emotion) definitely overtook me there. I was pumped up.”

Feltner proceeded to set Milwaukee down in order in the fifth and sixth, cementing his quality start. With that, going back to last year, Feltner now has eight straight starts of five-plus innings with two or fewer earned runs. That’s the third-longest active such streak in baseball.

“I want to be that guy, or at least one of those guys, who can put a stop to any bad slide we have going on and give us a chance to win,” Feltner said.

Black believes the 28-year-old is tracking to be such a stopper, dating back to his dominant September last season when he posted a 1.78 ERA in five starts. Going back even further, Feltner has a 2.95 ERA dating back to June 26, 2024, the lowest mark in an 18-start span for a Colorado pitcher since German Marquez across 2018-19.

“That education is never over, but (Feltner) is getting closer to knowing who he really is,” Black said.

With the offenses stalemated, it was Doyle who again came through for Colorado in the seventh to make it a 2-1 game. His single off Abner Uribe scored Mickey Moniak, who walked to lead off the inning and then was advanced to second on Jacob Stallings’ sacrifice bunt.

The Brewers tied the game again in the eighth as Jake Bird yielded an infield hit and then two straight walks. Southpaw Scott Alexander came in to clean up the mess, and he got a double-play and a K to end the inning, but the grounder allowed Milwaukee to make it 2-2.

In the bottom of that frame, Colorado struck back in an inning jump-started by Ryan McMahon’s double off the right-field wall. Michael Toglia’s double a couple of batters later scored him to make it 3-2. Then, Kris Bryant came on to pinch hit with the bases loaded and one out, and struck out, prompting a smattering of boos from his own fans.

But Doyle followed with a bases-clearing double to seal the game, before he was scored by Zac Veen’s first career extra-base hit via a double off the right-field wall.

“That’s a big momentum shift for us (after struggling to a 2-9 start),” Doyle said. “We want to build on it. I had a good game plan against (Brewers reliever Joel) Payamps, and got the slider where I wanted it.”

McMahon, who addressed the team in the clubhouse following the Brewers’ 17-2 demolition on Wednesday night, was pleased with Colorado’s response on Thursday in a tight game that got broken open late.

“We got a little bit embarrassed (on Wednesday), and I think the guys took that personally, so it was good to see (Doyle) have a huge day,” McMahon said. “He basically put us on his back.”

Colorado now heads on a gut-check California road trip with three games in San Diego followed by three games in Los Angeles against the defending World Series champions. The Rockies return home for a quick three-game series against the Nationals starting next Friday, April 18.

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