Ryan Feltner roughed up in Rockies debut as Braves cruise to victory

Two Rockies pitchers — starter Ryan Feltner and reliever Julian Fernandez — made their big-league debuts Sunday afternoon at Coors Field.

Their debut was, well, rocky.

The Atlanta Braves took full advantage, hitting four home runs and cruising to a 9-2 victory to earn a spit of the four-game series.

“The lessons learned today by two rookie pitchers making their debut is that the quality of the major league hitter is real,” manager Bud Black said. “There has to be a consistency of pitch-making as these guys move forward into their careers. But they are in their infancy. This was the first game of two young men’s careers that will hopefully span a long time.”

Meanwhile, Charlie Morton, the Braves’ veteran right-hander, provided Colorado’s young duo with a guidebook on how to steer through a big-league lineup. Martin, 37, allowed just two runs on just two hits in seven innings as he improved to 13-5.

The very first pitch of Feltner’s career — a 91.6 mph cut fastball — ended up in the right-field seats, courtesy of a sky-high home run by Ozzie Albies. Feltner became the first major league starter since Miami’s Robert Dugger on Aug. 5, 2019 to give up a home run on the first pitch of his big-league debut.

Feltner’s maiden big-league voyage ended after just 2 2/3 innings but he didn’t sound discouraged.

“My main focus today was to try to pound the (strike) zone,” Feltner said. “For the most part, I think I did that. That first pitch of the game, I was just trying to get a strike over and he connected. Hats off to him.”

The product of Ohio State, who got called up from Double-A Hartford without pitching at Triple-A, gave up six runs on five hits, walked two, and hit a batter. Black said he thought it was only natural that Feltner would have to deal with a case of big-league nerves, but Feltner said that any jitters he felt didn’t affect his performance.

“The nerves were more in the days leading up to the game and then this morning,”  he said. “Once I started my routine I was fine. I was more nervous than a normal game but I wouldn’t say if affected my performance.”

In Atlanta’s five-run third inning, Adam Duval launched a 440-foot, two-run homer to center off of the 25-year-old Feltner and Travis d’Arnaud immediately followed with a solo blast to right-center. Feltner left both pitches up in the zone.

“There were some positives to take away, for sure,” Feltner said. “I made some pitches. I made a good pitch on a curveball in the first inning (against Duval) to get a double play. The action on my stuff wasn’t totally there, but there were a lot of positives to draw from it.”

Added Black: “Obviously, he’d like to have a couple pitches back. But I thought he showed poise and composure. He repeated his delivery. There’s a lot of things that are in order for him moving forward.”

Fernandez, 25, called up from Triple-A Albuquerque, entered the game in the sixth and set the Braves down in order, displaying a 102.4 mph fastball against Dansby Swanson in an at-bat that ended with a strikeout.

Fernandez’s seventh inning didn’t go nearly as well. Jorge Soler rocketed a two-out double to right and scored on Freddie Freeman’s single. Austin Riley brought home Freeman with a two-run homer to left-center.

“There are a lot of pitchers around baseball now that are touching 100,” Black said. “What I liked about our guy is that he was around the strike zone with that velocity. And he threw strikes with his secondary pitches — his changeup and a slider — that were close to 90 mph.”

Colorado’s offense has been cranking out runs at Coors Field as summer heads toward fall, but it managed just two hits Sunday, both by Raimel Tapia. It marked the first time this season that the Rockies were held to two or fewer hits at home.

Tapia hit a one-out single in the first and tripled to right field in the fourth, scoring on Brendan Rodgers’ groundout.

The Rockies open a three-game series vs. San Francisco on Monday at Coors Field. The Giants are battling the Dodgers for the National League West title.