Feltner goes high, Rockies left dry in loss to Reds

DENVER -- On the pitch that mattered most Monday night, Rockies right-hander Ryan Feltner took the high road.

Only he wound up on the path to ruin.

Trailing by one run in the fourth -- after a big Rockies offensive inning -- Feltner faced Will Benson with two out and two aboard. A pitch after Benson had whiffed under a high fastball, Feltner tried it again -- and gave up a game-breaking two-run triple, which led to the Rockies’ third straight loss, 13-3 to the Reds at Coors Field.

Feltner gave up a career-high eight runs in 4 1/3 innings.

The Benson triple was the second time he was burned by a two-out pitch. In the third, Jeimer Candelario lifted a hanging 1-0 slider into the Rockies’ bullpen in right for a 4-1 lead.

But a Brendan Rodgers homer and Jacob Stallings RBI single in the bottom of the third against Reds starter Andrew Abbott cut the difference to 4-3. When Feltner needed a pitch against Benson in the fourth, he went with what he feels is his best.

But instead of settling the issue, the result sparked debate.

“The Benson one was a fastball, up and in,” Feltner said. “I think it was a good pitch. It was where I wanted to throw it.”

For more than a generation, pitching in Denver -- first Mile High Stadium, now Coors Field -- has been tough. At times, pitches low in the zone were the dance craze. Around the time that manager Bud Black arrived and managed pitching-based teams that went to the postseason in 2017 and 2018, the vogue strategy became to go with what the pitcher does best.

Feltner (1-5, 6.22 ERA) rates the elevated fastball as his best pitch, the one that works best from his delivery. But bad stuff happens when it doesn’t work.

“In that particular at-bat, the fastball for a strike was elevated -- swing through,” Black said. “The next fastball was down a little bit lower, and he [Benson] barreled it. It had to be a little bit more inside, or a little bit higher.”

While the Rockies encourage pitchers to throw their best stuff, problems happen when they become predictable – especially at Coors, where Feltner carries a 7.30 ERA and a .340 average against in his five starts.

“I’ll just have to figure out a better way to get outs here,” said Feltner, whose power mix is impressive in his good sequences. “It’s something I don’t like talking about -- you know, just to say, ‘Poor me. I pitch at Coors Field.’ But I need to figure out a better plan here.”

Black said, “What you saw today was he was not down enough or not up enough … he just didn’t execute enough pitches when he really needed to.”

Is going below the zone more often or more effectively the answer? No one is asking for Aaron Cook, who relied on the sinker for 10 Rockies seasons a few years back.

But Black noted that Feltner ended the Reds’ one-run second with a spiked curve that Nick Martini swung over for a strikeout. And pitching coach Darryl Scott noted that the high fastball, which is being preached widely, can be problematic if a pitcher doesn’t set hitters up properly.

“There’s a trend in the game -- there are more flat swings than there have been and guys can handle the ball up,” Scott said. “When he has been down, he’s been really good. There have been some weak-contact base hits, but also some ground-ball outs, some strikeouts, a double play. And then there are times he elevates and gets himself in trouble.”

The down-in-the-zone pitch is not a panacea for Feltner when it’s down enough, as on Candelario’s homer.

Feltner hasn’t had a winning decision at Coors since Aug. 9, 2022, although he held the Rays to two runs in six innings and fanned 10 on April 6.

His best starts this year have been on the road -- six innings, no runs at Oakland on May 23, and 8+ innings at Miami on April 30 with all three runs coming in the ninth. Still, he has a 5.54 ERA in seven road starts.

Feltner allowed that despite his delivery being geared to pitch up, he must pitch down more often.

“I’m not exactly sure on the approach yet,” Feltner said. “I definitely have the ability to do it. The identity for me is still throwing up in the zone, but I need to be able to get it down in the zone more often.”