Offense strands Goodman as Phillies sweep Rockies
A collective 116,000 people showed at Citizens Bank Park over three days for a series between the Colorado Rockies and Philadelphia Phillies. The Rox would end up getting swept after largely underwhelming numbers at the plate and continuing bullpen struggles.
Game one of this series on Monday, March 31 was the home opener in Philadelphia and saw the return of Germán Márquez on the mound. He’s only seen five starts over the last two seasons due to back-to-back UCL and elbow inflammation injuries.
When Márquez isn’t battling injuries he’s an all-star pitcher, which came to life in his first start of 2025. He fanned six shutout innings against the threatening Philly lineup and only gave up four hits along the way.
Scott Alexander came in as relief in the seventh after Márquez’ 83 pitches and only faced four batters, putting Victor Vodnik in a bases-loaded two-out situation. Similar to the Tampa Bay series, the combination of bullpen arms quickly soiled the close game, as Vodnik allowed a two-run RBI double to Edmundo Sosa.
Home runs from Kyle Schwarber and Nick Castellanos mixed with minimal offense from the Rockies closed out the 6-1 win for the Phillies. Colorado recorded six hits, with the only score coming off a solo blast from Hunter Goodman, who shined at the plate all series long.
Game two would reset the starting pitching rotation bringing up Kyle Freeland. He performed against the Rays on Opening Day, going through six shutout while only throwing 67 pitches. He would get off to a similar start against the Phillies but would give up his first run of the year in the fourth, off a ball poked into the left field corner scoring Alec Bohm.
Colorado didn’t have an easy foe to hit against, facing Zack Wheeler, who finished second in National League Cy Young voting last season. Across 105 pitches and seven innings, he stuck out 10 batters.
The only run Wheeler surrendered came at the bat of Goodman, who got his second home run of the year in the seventh. However, the Rockies would only tally three other hits and go down quietly 5-1. Brenton Doyle, Ezequiel Tovar, Ryan McMahon and Micheal Toglia all went a combined 0-for-15, with nearly all offense sourced by Goodman.
Game three saw a chance for Colorado to break their early season losing streak, facing Philly’s Taijuan Walker on the mound, who struggled last year with a 7.10 earned run average (ERA) and 3-7 record. He would face Antonio Senzatela and his second start of the year, as the Rockies four-man starting pitching script shaped up.
Manager Bud Black made changes to the lineup, centered around the catcher and designated hitter positions. Kris Bryant got pulled after another dispiriting act, putting Goodman in at DH and Jacob Stallings behind the plate. The outfielders around Doyle were also a carousel all series, with left field switching between Jordan Beck and Mickey Moniak, and right between Sean Bouchard and Nick Martini.
Senzy continued his trend of letting up a lot of hits but no runs. He’d allow 10 Philly knocks across 5 1/3 innings and didn’t defer an earned run. The three Rockies arms out of the bullpen did well limiting damage, as sloppy mistakes cost Colorado the game.
In the bottom of the fifth, Schwarber hit a fly ball to right that was dropped by Moniak for an error, which later in the inning would result in a run. In the bottom of the eighth, with two runners on, a wild pitch from Tyler Kinley would score another. The Rox would rally seven batters to the plate in the top of the ninth but only score once, meaning if those two flawed runs were prevented early on, this game could’ve gone into extra innings and maybe in the Rockies favor.
Instead, they’d lose game three 3-1 and get swept, putting their record at 1-5. The offense just could not get it going, and only scoring three times across three games is not a recipe for success. Tovar went 0-for-12, McMahon struck out seven times and Toglia, who’s supposed to be this teams underground power hitter has started the season 2-for-23.
While starting pitching continues to impress, the bullpen still makes the final scores look inflated. Although it’s still a minuscule sample size, six Rockies relievers have an ERA over 10. It doesn’t make it better that they’re in the toughest division in baseball, just six games into the season already far behind teams like the 8-0 Los Angeles Dodgers or 7-0 San Diego Padres.
The Rockies host the Athletics next series for the 2025 home opener.