Rockies erase an early deficit for a 12-6 win over the Royals to take the series

The Colorado Rockies snagged victory number 43 on Friday night with a 3-1 win over the Kansas City Royals, already matching their win total from the entirety of the 2025 season. As he’s done time and again, Tomoyuki Sugano (菅野 智之) pitched a gem and stymied the opposing team to kick off a series.

That performance set the stage for the Rockies and starter Ryan Feltner to start the month of August by locking up a series win. On Colorado Day, the team did just that and helped celebrate the state’s 150th birthday with a dozen runs scored in front of the home crowd.

“Welcome to Colorful Colorado”

Unfortunately, it was an unwelcome start for the Rockies through the early innings.

On a sunny Saturday night at Coors Field, Feltner was a little shaky out of the gate. As he has in recent games, the right-hander struggled with his command, sailing several balls well outside of the zone. He walked leadoff hitter Carter Jensen on five pitches, including a couple of very ugly sliders that slipped way down low. Feltner then fell to a 3-2 count against then-cernter fielder Lane Thomas, featuring a pair of fastballs high above the zone, before giving up a single.

With two on and no outs, hard-hitter Jac Caglianone stepped to the plate. Cole Carrigg, making his first MLB start at shortstop, helped the cause by turning a double play on a grounder up the middle. Feltner and the Rockies were able to work out of the jam unscathed.

The Rockies weren’t able to get out ahead after capitalizing, going down in order in both the first and second innings.

The Royals, on the other hand, struck first in the top of the second and piled on in the third. Isaac Collins tripled to start the second inning and was brought home after Michael Massey got under a Feltner changeup for a sacrifice fly for a 1-0 lead.

In the third, Tyler Tolbert started Kansas City off with a double. That hard-hitting Caglianone mentioned earlier? He did just that, blasting his 18th homer of the year with two outs on the board. Salvador Perez stayed on Feltner with a homer of his own to make things 4-0.

300 days of sunshine and six runs in the third

Kansas City wouldn’t be the only side scoring in the third inning. The Rockies stormed back in a big way.

Royals starter Luinder Avila had kept the Rockies hitless through the first two innings. Things turned quickly and he was chased before the inning came to a close as the Rockies batted around the order.

Willi Castro got the party started by drawing a walk, followed by a Tyler Freeman single. A mound visit couldn’t settle Avila down. He lost his command and walked Brenton Doyle on five pitches to load the bases. After a Jake McCarthy strikeout, Kyle Karros doubled to cut Kansas City’s lead in half at 4-2.

TJ Rumfield then singled to keep the scoring going. With Rumfield and Karros on, who else but Hunter Goodman hit a bomb to left field to give the Rockies their first lead of the night at 6-4. Goodman donned the purple jacket for his 32nd dinger of the year. With that, he broke his own franchise record for home runs by a catcher (31 in 2025).

Avila stayed in to get the second out before walking Carrigg. His day came to a quick and merciful end there. He finished with 2.2 innings pitched, giving up those six earned runs on four hits with three walks to two strikeouts. Easton McGee entered and gave up a single to Castro (oh hey again!) to put runners on first and third, before getting a fly out to escape the inning.

Flying away like a Lark Bunting

Like the state bird of Colorado, a few Royals players flew away from the game and the Rockies continued to fly away with the lead in the middle innings.

It was a tumultuous stretch for the Kansas City. The third inning saw a pitching change after a quick collapse. The fourth saw a roster change after one of those wonky mid-game trades.

Thomas, who started in center and singled in the first, was pulled from the game and made his rounds in the dugout giving hugs and handshakes to his teammates. It was later confirmed that Thomas was dealt to the Atlanta Braves.

The Rockies continued to extend the lead, one run at a time. In the bottom of the fourth inning, the Rockies were able to get more traffic on the basepaths. A McCarthy double followed by a Rumfield single added another run. Then, in the fifth, Castro knocked a solo shot out to the Rocky Mountain forestry by the bullpens to make it an 8-4 game.

Feltner finished his day after working through the sixth. Despite his early struggles, he found a way to bounce back and settle in through the rest of the game, along with some much-needed run support from the offense. He allowed additional runners in scoring position but kept them from crossing home.

Feltner primarily used his four-seam fastball (30%), slider (21%), and changeup (20%). After the game, Feltner pointed to his comfort with the changeup growing as the game went on, helping him through big moments. As was the case last start, he didn’t generate any whiffs with his four-seamer (zero whiffs on 12 swings), but the pitch carried him through his second and third trips through the order. His day ended after six innings pitched, giving up eight hits and four runs with three strikeouts and a walk.

The vibes are (Rocky Mountain) High

Everything was coming up Rockies the rest of the way through.

The bullpen contributed a pair of clean innings, with Victor Vodnik giving up no runs on a hit with a strikeout in the seventh and Juan Mejia posting the same line in the eighth. The Rockies made defensive adjustments as well, bringing Ezequiel Tovar into the game at shortstop and moving Carrigg out to right field.

Goodman wasn’t done, blasting another dinger to left field in the seventh inning for his sixth multi-homer game of the season for a 9-4 Rockies lead.

Lucas Erceg entered in relief for the Royals in the eighth inning and found himself in trouble. Erceg had given up runs in four of his last five appearances and that trend continued. RBI from Rumfield, Goodman (again), and Moniak extended the lead to 12-4.

Jimmy Herget entered to close out the game but couldn’t put the Royals down quietly. He gave up a home run to John Rave, the first batter he faced, on a sweeper up in the zone. Herget then gave up a triple to Jensen who scored next on a groundout from Starling Marte. Luckily, an eight-run cushion gave Herget some wiggle room and the Rockies closed things out for a 12-6 win.

Hey Siri, play “Rocky Mountain Way”

As is customary to hear blaring over the Coors Field speakers to conclude a home win, Joe Walsh’s “Rocky Mountain Way” caps off a night where lots went right.

The Rockies offense exploded tonight, with key contributions across the batting order. Eight Rockies logged hits, including five players with a multi-hit game (McCarthy, Karros, Rumfield, Goodman, and Castro). Of note, Goodman went 4-for-5 with five RBI and two runs scored on his two homers. Rumfield went 3-for-5 with three RBI and two runs, and Karros chipped in with two RBI of his own.

Skipper Warren Schaeffer gave a nod to Goodman’s bounce back after a small hitting slump: “He’s just such a good hitter. When he stays within himself and is confident, he’s just tough to beat.”

On Castro, Schaeffer pointed to his versatility and strong plate presence: “Willi’s a huge part of our team. His at-bats have been good. Another big homer tonight. He’s been great, not just hitting homers, but moving the line, taking his walks, playing good defense for us everywhere on the diamond.”

The Royals finished their night going 1-for-13 with runners in scoring position, compared to 6-for-15 for Colorado. The Rockies were able to cash in on their chances and extend a big lead. That cushion helped Feltner settle in and battle back for a win. Schaeffer noted that he thought Feltner “showed a ton of guts tonight. Early in the game, he got hit pretty hard. He could’ve folded, but he didn’t. He gave us six strong innings and got the win. You can go one of two ways there and he chose to keep going.”

Despite a rocky start, the Rockies came together on all sides of the ball for a fantastic team win — number 44 on the season.

Up Next

The Rockies and Royals finish out their three-game series with a Sunday afternoon matchup before the Tampa Bay Rays come to Coors Field to close out the homestand.

Southpaw Kyle Freeland will take the mound for Colorado, bringing a 2-10 record and a 7.34 ERA into the contest across his 19 starts. Kansas City is set to start right-hander Seth Lugo, entering with a 4-6 record and a 4.22 ERA across 22 starts.

First pitch is scheduled for 1:10 p.m. MDT.

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