DENVER -- Veteran Kyle Farmer's fourth-inning bat slam, followed by his helmet slam, encapsulated the Rockies¡¯ frustration on Sunday afternoon at Coors Field.
Farmer struck out for the second time against Reds starter Nick Lodolo, who fanned nine in seven scoreless innings of two-hit ball in an 8-1 Rockies loss to continue their historically bad start to the season to fall to 4-23.
At least in the seventh inning, Farmer experienced something not exactly close to elation. He knocked a bouncer that almost always goes foul. But it somehow hit the third-base bag for the second of the Rockies¡¯ three hits -- and the end of Farmer's 0-for-23 skid.
¡°It was my first hit since my wife came to town -- I think she exhaled a little more,¡± Farmer said. ¡°But, yeah. Baseball is extremely hard.
¡°You never know what¡¯s going to happen -- like a dribbler down the line that hit the bag. Didn¡¯t even hit grass ... dirt all the way to the bag.¡±
Farmer, 34, is a rare player who has experienced the thrill of postseason baseball in three years, and, now, early-season ignominy -- twice. He was a member of the 2022 Reds, who had the same 4-23 record as the Rockies. Additionally, in the Modern Era (starting in 1901), only the 2003 Tigers, 1988 Orioles and the 1936 St. Louis Browns have started a season 4-23. Also, to split hairs here, the 1907 Brooklyn Superbas began 4-22-1, then experienced their fifth victory in Game 28.
Farmer was with the Reds when they went to the postseason in 2020 and saw the team go young and lose its way into the history books two seasons later.
But Farmer noted that Lodolo, Hunter Greene (Saturday¡¯s winning pitcher) and several key position players who struggled through that 2022 season are part of a Reds team that¡¯s 15-13 under manager Terry Francona and feels it can contend.
¡°Those guys struggled heavily when they first came into the big leagues,¡± Farmer said. ¡°Look at them now. I love it here. This is a good group of core players, and I think they¡¯re going to be really good. They just have to learn from this. You¡¯ve got to learn from your failures and learn through the struggles.¡±
Not that the struggles don¡¯t make a guy mad.
¡°He¡¯s a competitor,¡± Rockies manager Bud Black said. ¡°He feels that. You saw that frustration.
¡°A lot of these guys are feeling the tension of what¡¯s going on with our offense and what¡¯s happening on the field.¡±
Before the skid, Farmer was batting .345. An adjustment to his stance -- to widen his feet, which allowed him to shorten and control his swing -- worked for him toward the end of last season with the Twins, and served him well early this season.
But it could be that, in Farmer¡¯s case, more is less.
Farmer was signed to a one-year deal with a $4 million guarantee, and an option for 2026, to occasionally spell second baseman Thairo Estrada, 2024 Gold Glove shortstop Ezequiel Tovar and four-time Gold Glove finalist Ryan McMahon. But Estrada (fractured right wrist) hasn¡¯t played and Tovar (left hip contusion) is out. McMahon started the first 26 games of the season, but he was left off the lineup card on Sunday amid a 2-for-20 tribulation.
Farmer is handling the greater-than-expected playing time load and the ups and downs with old-fashioned work. After Sunday¡¯s game, Farmer spent a long period in the video room with studious outfielder Sean Bouchard, who picked up preparation habits from the now-retired Charlie Blackmon and is looking for more knowledge.
Farmer noted before the season that teams he has played for ¡°couldn¡¯t wait to face the Rockies last year and the year before.¡± Is Colorado working at the rate of a team that wants to erase such a taste?
A better question may be: Does the club have enough experience on the roster to know the difference?
¡°It¡¯s a tough question,¡± Farmer said. ¡°I think everybody works hard in their own way. I¡¯m the type of person who has to get out there and do it every day to work -- take ground balls every day, hit on the field early every day. Starting tomorrow, I think we¡¯re going to see a lot more guys doing early work, getting after it and fine-tuning their craft.
¡°It¡¯s a really young team. But what better opportunity can you have than going out there and doing it -- and learning and working.¡±