The Colorado Rockies spent last weekend on an exciting roller coaster of a series against the Pittsburgh Pirates. The Rockies mounted three impressive comebacks, resulting in two victories and a close loss. Some of the most exciting victories in baseball are when a team can come from behind, erase a deficit, and celebrate a walk-off win.

However, it’s not necessarily ideal to always be playing from behind. That’s been the case for the Rockies quite a bit this season as they have continuously stumbled out of the gate in the first inning, particularly when it comes to pitching. So, let’s take a look at what’s going on in the first frame for the boys in purple.

The obvious blemish that deserves most of the blame is the pitching. The Rockies have the highest team ERA in baseball in the first inning. Sporting an unsightly 7.95 ERA, the Rockies are on the other side of a massive canyon from the rest of the league. The next highest team ERA in the first inning belongs to the Washington Nationals with a 6.16, and the team doing the best is the Kansas City Royals with a 2.01 ERA.

Colorado has given up 104 runs in the opening frame, 20 more than the next closest team. Through 113 games this season, the Rockies have allowed runs in 52 of them. Now, 27 of those games have seen the Rockies give up just one run in the first inning. Allowing one run isn’t the worst thing in the world; it’s not great, but it shouldn’t be an insurmountable hurdle. Opponents have scored two runs 13 times, three runs six times, four runs three times, and five or more just three times.

As a whole, the team has walked a league-average number of batters but has the fewest strikeouts at 86. The biggest smoking gun, however, is the .340 batting average opponents have against the Rockies in the first inning. Opponents have 164 hits, the most in baseball, including 23 home runs. Teams are coming out of the gate swinging aggressively against the Rockies, stringing together a few hits to score at least one run and take the lead, a huge advantage in baseball, especially when facing the 2025 Rockies.

We can’t talk about pitching in the first inning without mentioning Antonio Senzatela. Starting the game has been his downfall this season as he leads the team with an 11.76 ERA in the first frame, a number that was ballooned by the nine runs scored by Pittsburgh in his last start. They were quick to point to a finger blister that landed him on the injured list, but when opponents have been hitting around .400 against him all season in the first, it wasn’t just the blister’s fault.

The other starters have not fared well either. Kyle Freeland sits with a 9.00 ERA, Germán Márquez with 8.24, although his was drastically affected by a seven-run burst by the Los Angeles Dodgers in April, and bother Tanner Gordon and Bradley Blalock have had their struggles. Chase Dollander found some success in his 15 starts, sporting a 3.00 ERA, but things would unravel from there.

This points to a factor to keep in mind when it comes to this first inning struggle. Yes, the Rockies quickly fall behind because of the first-inning runs, but the compounded struggles of the subsequent innings. Sometimes a starter is able to wrangle things in and deliver an excellent performance, but oftentimes, things tend to snowball, and they give up even more runs in the second or third innings as they labor to get through five innings. The first inning sets the tone, and the Rockies have a hard time with that.

However, the offense needs to pick up more of the slack to help the pitching out a bit. The offense has not been great for the club his season and is a major reason for their 30-83 record. Things have been slowly picking up at the plate over the last couple of months, but the first inning is still an enigma.

Entering Tuesday, the Rockies have scored 44 runs, the third-fewest in baseball. They have the fewest hits (90), the fewest walks (25), the lowest batting average (.216), and the only sub-.300 on-base percentage (.262). Slugging and extra-base hits have trended in the right direction, but still sit in the middle to lower half of the league

By my count, the Rockies have scored in the first inning just 28 times. Of those games, 15 have seen the Rockies score just one run, two runs nine times, three runs three times, and four runs just once. They didn’t score in the first inning until their seventh game of the season on April 4th.

It’s not the end of the world if they don’t score often in the first inning, but when it continues through multiple early innings and they fall further behind, waiting to mount a comeback in the latter frames (as exciting as that is) isn’t a sustainable method to success. It’s great to see the team show life and keep fighting to the end, but perhaps waking up a bit sooner would go a long way.

For the Rockies to continue to grow and develop, they have to learn to start games strong. First-inning runs are going to happen, but pitching can’t let it snowball beyond the one run in the following innings. The offense could stand to get going sooner, even if it’s not the first inning. The point of it all is that the team can’t afford always to be digging itself into a hole early on. Scoring first builds momentum that helps carry throughout a game and while things are showing signs of trending upwards, there is still a lot of work to do.

They have stumbled out of the gate far too often and need to get better jumps off the line if they ever hope to climb out of the basement as an organization.

Triple-A: Round Rock Express 11, Albuquerque Isotopes 5

Kyle Karros had himself quite the night with three hits, including a triple, but the Isotopes couldn’t get the big hits as they fell 11-5. Adael Amador had a couple of hits as did Sterlin Thompson, while the team as a whole had 11 hits, including four extra-base hits. On the mound, Chase Dollander navigated some early struggles in the first inning, but did last 3 2/3 innings, giving up three runs on four hits with three walks and five strikeouts.

Double-A: Altoona Curve 6, Hartford Yard Goats 5

After putting up three runs in the top of the first, the Yard Goats fell behind and couldn’t muster enough offense later as they dropped the game 6-5. Jack Mahoney started on the mound, taking the loss after allowing five runs through five innings with four walks and three strikeouts. Bryant Betancourt provided the highlights for the Yard Goats, driving in four runs with a pair of doubles. New addition Roc Riggio scored a pair of runs and also swiped three bags in the contest.

High-A: Eugene Emeralds 2, Spokane Indians 0

Spokane managed eight hits, the same as Eugene, but they couldn’t get a run across in their shutout loss. Blake Wright, Andy Perez, and Jean Perez each had two hits, with Wright lacing two doubles. Unfortunately, the Indians went 0-for-9 with runners in scoring position and struck out 10 times. Konner Eaton allowed one run over six strong innings, followed by two strong innings by Alberto Pacheco, where he allowed one run on two hits.

Low-A: Inland Empire 66ers 9, Fresno Grizzlies 3

Robert Calaz and Roynier Hernandez led the way offensively for Fresno with two hits apiece; however team went 3-for-8 with runners in scoring position. Brody Brecht made the start, but went just two innings, allowing two runs on two hits with three walks and four strikeouts.

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