Rockies strike out 15 times, lose to Rays, drop to 2-8

The Mighty Casey would have felt right at home Sunday afternoon at Coors Field.

The Rockies, dominated by Rays right-hander Ryan Pepiot, struck out 15 times in a gut-punch 3-2 loss and have opened the season with a 2-8 record. That mark ties the 2005 club for the worst 10-game record to start a season in franchise history.

Still, Colorado had prime opportunities to win the game in the eighth and ninth innings. Alas, it didn’t happen.

“We’re just not getting the big hit,” manager Bud Black said, echoing a familiar refrain from last year’s 103-loss season.

In the eighth, Jake Cave led off with a pinch-hit triple and scored on Elias Diaz’s pinch-hit single. Charlie Blackmon and Ezequiel Tovar drew walks from erratic Tampa Bay reliever Phil Maton to load the bases. But Shawn Armstrong got Ryan McMahon to ground out to shortstop Isaac Paredes, who threw home for the force out.

Then Armstrong induced Kris Bryant to ground into a rally-killing, six-to-three double play. Bryant went 0-for-3 with a walk Sunday and is hitting .107 for the season.

In the ninth, Brenton Doyle’s RBI single scored Nolan Jones, who led off with a walk, but Armstrong struck out Cave and got Diaz to ground out to third. Game over, series to the Rays, two games to one.

Pepiot, making just the 12th start of his career, blanked Colorado for six innings and made significant history.

He allowed no runs on three hits with a career-high 11 strikeouts and no walks. He got the Rockies to swing and miss 21 times. He became the first opposing pitcher in Coors Field history to strike out 10 or more batters while throwing six or more shutout frames and issuing no walks.

“He was locating well, and to righties, he was throwing the ball to the glove side, away from us, and he was getting some calls there,” Rockies backup catcher Jacob Stallings said. “He was executing, and it seemed like as the game went on, he was throwing even more heaters than he usually does. He kept us off-balance. He’s got a good arm, and he’s really talented.”

Pepiot owns the Rockies. In three career games (two starts), he’s 2-1 with a 1.06 ERA, 26 strikeouts and two walks.

“It sort of reminded me of what (Ryan) Feltner did yesterday,” Black said, referring to Feltner’s six-inning, 10-K performance in Colorado’s 8-6 loss to the Rays. “A good fastball. A fastball that played today. He moved it around the zone and he had a good slider and a good changeup.

“He beat us, at times, with the fastball, in the strike zone. So that tells me he had a little life to it.”

Right-hander Dakota Hudson gave the Rockies a workmanlike performance for his second consecutive start. The Rays reached him for three runs on seven hits. He walked one and struck out three.

“I was able to move the fastball around well and mix some speeds,” Hudson said.