Rockies' Ryan Feltner eyes another win vs. Cards in opener

Ryan Feltner went nearly four months between victories but the Colorado righty has two wins in his last three starts.

Feltner (3-10, 4.73 ERA) will try to make it three wins in four outings when he takes the mound Tuesday night for the first of a three-game series between the Rockies (60-96) and visiting St. Louis Cardinals. Michael McGreevy (2-0, 0.90) will take the hill for St. Louis (79-77).

Colorado will close the season with six home games and must go .500 to avoid a second straight 100-loss season. The Rockies are 9-10 in September, with series wins against the Milwaukee Brewers, Arizona Diamondbacks and the Chicago Cubs.

Feltner clinched a series win against the Diamondbacks on Wednesday with 6 2/3 strong innings in which he gave up one run in his third victory. He lowered his September ERA to 1.96 against three teams -- Milwaukee, Detroit and Arizona -- that have clinched a playoff berth or would be in the postseason if the season ended Monday.

Tuesday will be his third career start and second of the season against the Cardinals, and he is 1-0 with a 4.09 ERA in those two outings. He faced them in St. Louis on June 8 and allowed four unearned runs and struck out seven in 5 1/3 innings.

Feltner might not have catcher Hunter Goodman as a batterymate on Tuesday. Goodman suffered a jammed right thumb in the eighth inning of Sunday's 6-5 loss at the Los Angeles Dodgers.

"My right hand didn't get all the way behind the glove," Goodman said. "It kind of bounced and hit the top of my right thumb. I couldn't really feel what was going on. Trying to hold the ball, I couldn't grip it very well."

The Cardinals are wrapping up a disappointing season compared to their standards. St. Louis won the NL Central in 2022 but was last in the division in 2023 and will miss the playoffs for the fifth time in the last nine years. The frustration is apparent with the players.

"The only thing we can control is show up next year and keep working," catcher Willson Contreras said Sunday. "But as an organization, I think the Cardinals are one of the biggest organizations in baseball, and if I was them, if I was the front office, I'd have to be hungry to own this division."

St. Louis can avoid a second straight losing season by winning three of its final six games. It begins in Denver with a rookie making his first start in the thin air -- and against Colorado.

McGreevy was impressive in winning his major league debut, allowing a run on five hits over seven innings against Texas on July 31. He was optioned back to Triple-A the next day but was recalled Wednesday and picked up his second win with three innings of scoreless relief against Pittsburgh that night.

That gives him two victories in as many appearances in the majors, but Tuesday will be the first time he pitches on the road.