Colorado Rockies game no. 129 thread: Chris Flexen vs. Kyle Bradish

The Colorado Rockies dropped last night’s series opener against the Baltimore Orioles after having a 4-3 lead in the eighth inning. It marked their fifth-straight loss when tied or leading entering the eighth, and are the first team since the 1970 Montreal Expos to lose five-straight games in such fashion. They are a season-low 32 games below .500 — the fifth time in franchise history that the team has been at least 30 games below .500, and the first time since 2014. But there is hope! The franchise record for most games below .500 is 38, set by the 1993 Rockies on August 7 of that year.

Rookie sensation Ezequiel Tovar hit his 15th home run of the season last night, making him the fifth rookie in franchise history to hit 15+ homers in a season (Wilin Rosario, Trevor Story, Todd Helton and Troy Tulowitzki). His 117 hits are also the seventh-most by a rookie in Rockies history, the most since Nolan Arenado’s 130 hits in 2013, and his 59 RBI rank sixth behind Story’s 72 in 2016.

Chris Flexen (1-5, 7.18 ERA) will take the ball for the Rox today. In his last outing against the White Sox on Sunday, Flexen pitched six innings for the second-straight outing. He allowed two runs (one earned) on seven hits with no walks and five strikeouts. He left after six innings with the Rockies up 5-2, and they would ultimately lose 10-5. Flexen has pitched against the Orioles twice in his career, both in 2022 as a member of the Seattle Mariners, and holds a 1-0 record and 4.91 ERA against them. In his previous outing against them, he didn’t factor into the Mariners’ 7-6 win at Camden Yards on June 2. He allowed three runs on six hits across five innings.

Flexen will pitch against second-year right-hander Kyle Bradish (8-6, 3.03 ERA). Bradish was drafted in the fourth round of the 2018 draft by the Los Angeles Angels and was traded the the Orioles in December 2019 alongside fellow righties Isaac Mattson, Kyle Brnovich and Zach Peek for RHP Dylan Bundy. He made his MLB debut on April 29, 2022. In his last outing of 2023 against the the Oakland Athletics, Bradish pitched six scoreless innings while allowing just two hits, one walk, one hit batter and eight strikeouts. Today marks his first-career start against the Rockies, so hopefully they can get to him!

First Pitch: 5:05 p.m. MDT

TV: AT&T Sports Net Rocky Mountain; MLB.tv

Radio: KOA 850 AM/94.1 FM; KNRV 1150 (Spanish)

Lineups: