One of the most exciting things about the 2026 Rockies is the change — and the constant loop of change that is happening as the season unfolds.
Outside of the new front office and new influx of coaches, new arms populate the rotation, lineups change, more players field multiple positions, and pitchers embrace pitch suggesting.
Some of the new approaches are working better than others. All will likely take a much larger sample size to assess the long-term benefits. But after years of stagnation, a trial-and-error approach is great for Colorado — a young team trying to form a foundation for future success.
A key part of this approach to see what sticks is recognizing when something doesn’t work and abandoning it. That being said, the opener strategy didn’t work and the Rockies seem to have rightfully dropped it — at least for now.
So far this season, the Rockies have used an opener six times. They have lost five of those games, giving up a run in the first inning in four of them and posting a staggering 10.80 ERA (six runs in five innings). With an offense that has been inconsistent thus far, the Rockies can’t afford to start games in a hole.
Rockies Openers’ First-Inning Performances
Date |
Opponent |
Result |
Pitcher |
R |
H |
BB |
HBP |
K |
WP |
HR |
IP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| April 4 | Phillies | L, 2-1 | Brennan Bernardino | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.2 |
| April 9 | @Padres | L, 7-3 (12) | Jimmy Herget | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| April 12 | @Padres | L, 7-2 | Jimmy Herget | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| April 16 | @Houston | W, 3-2 | Juan Mejia | 2 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0.2 |
| April 21 | Padres | L, 1-0 | Jimmy Herget | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| May 2 | Braves | L, 9-1 | Brennan Bernardino | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0.2 |
| 6 | – | 1-5 | – | 6 | 8 | 3 | 2 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 5 |
To be fair, with a rotation that’s already seen Jose Quintana and Kyle Freeland land on the 15-day IL and is once again dealing with a Ryan Feltner injury, the starters have taken a hit in the first 38 games of 2026. When a season starts like that, it can put a team in a bind early.
Jimmy Herget has taken three opening shifts, Brennan Bernardino has been the opener twice and Juan Mejia has filled the role once. Consider, then, their numbers when acting as an opener.
Bernardino has struggled the most as the opener, as he didn’t get out of the first inning in either of his starts. On May 2 against the Braves, the lefty jump-started a 9-1 loss when he gave up a two-run homer while managing just two outs in the first frame.
He also gave up one run in the first inning in 2-1 loss to the Phillies on April 4 when he issued a leadoff walk, followed by a Kyle Schwarber double.
When he’s not the opener, Bernardino, 34, has been a lights-out reliever. In 15 appearances, made up of 13.1 innings of work that weren’t in the first inning, he has a 0.00 ERA. He’s struck out 11, giving up one walk, nine hits and one unearned run. His relief stints have been so good that his overall ERA is still only 1.84 despite his opening struggles.
For the Rockies sake and Bernardino’s, he should be entering games later.
Herget is a little more complicated. The 32-year-old righty actually has a lower first-inning ERA at 3.00 vs. 4.91 in other innings. But the Rockies are 0-3 in his opening starts, despite the fact that he didn’t give up runs in two of them. Interestingly enough, all of Herget’s opening games have been against the Padres. That certainly taints the data a bit and it might be different if he faced different opponents.
In his most recent appearance as an opener, he pitched wonderfully. He struck out the side, but the Rockies offense was non-existent, and Colorado lost 1-0. On April 12, Herget’s start was a last-minute change after Kyle Freeland was a late scratch. When your starter goes down in warm-ups, odds are it’s going to be a tough game. Herget hit a batter, gave up a single, and the Padres used a sac bunt and a sac fly to take a lead they never lost.
Herget might work as an opener, but it’s too soon to know.
Mejia’s opener start marks the only Colorado victory with an opener, even though he gave up Houston’s only two runs and only managed two outs before being pulled. The 25-year-old RHP gave up three singles, hit a batter and threw a wild pitch before Chase Dollander took over to give the Rockies a chance to come back.
Instead of an opener, the Rockies seem to be trending toward using long relievers who pitch less frequently, as Purple Row’s Cory Cohen wrote about on Thursday. This seems to be a good move.
Dollander was the second pitcher in all of the opening games. Outside of the 9-1 loss to Atlanta, he’s pitched decently coming out of the bullpen. In seven appearances, Dollander has posted a 4.15 ERA in 30.1 innings. Even though it’s a small sample size, in his one start, Dollander put up seven scoreless innings in the best and longest outing in his MLB career.
To their credit, the Rockies coaching staff seemed to want to ease Dollander back into his career after a rocky rookie season in 2025 that saw him struggle with high pitch counts and the inability to finish hitters, which led to him being sent back down to Triple-A Albuquerque.
Dollander — and his ace-like fastball — looks like a new pitcher this year. He’s put in his time and is ready to join the rotation. Warren Schaeffer & Co. think so too as Dollander will be getting the start today against the Phillies. Hopefully, Dollander can continue his hot start as a starter in Philadelphia.
Sterlin Thompson smashed a three-run homer and Zac Veen added a two-run shot as the Isotopes combined for 11 hits in a big offensive win on Thursday. Blaine Crim hit an RBI single in the first inning to put Albuquerque up early. The Space Cowboys rallied back to take a 2-1 lead in the third before the Isotopes regained the lead with a four-run fourth that included doubles from Charlie Condon and Nic Kent, as well as singles from Veen, Braxton Fullford and Adael Amador. Vimael Machín added two hits and scored a run. Sean Sullivan (3-2) earned the win on the mound after throwing 5.1 innings, giving up three runs on six hits with eight strikeouts and one walk.
GJ Hill hit a two-run homer in the seventh inning in what turned out to be the game-winning runs on Thursday night. Zach Kokoska added a solo homer and Eiberson Castellano improved to 2-2 after holding the Rumble Ponies to one run on three hits with five strikeouts and two walks in five innings. Cade Denton gave up one run in two innings with one strikeout for the hold and Fidel Ulloa struck out five in two innings, giving up one run for the save. Hill and Kokoska each recorded two-hit performances, as did Benny Montgomery.
Everett Catlett posted a solid start, only giving up two runs on five hits with seven strikeouts in five innings and Lebarron Johnson Jr. added four scoreless innings in relief, but Spokane’s offense was held to six hits and one run in the loss. The Indians scored their lone run in the eighth inning when Kevin Fitzer led off with a single. Kelvin Hildago hit a two-run double to put runners at the corners and Fitzer came around to score on a wild pitch. Tevin Tucker added two singles for Spokane.
Low-A: Fresno Grizzlies 12, San Jose Giants 8
Fresno scored seven runs in the first inning and never looked back in an offensive explosion that included home runs from Roldy Brito (two-run), Tanner Thach (two-run), Ethan Holliday (solo) and Derek Bernard (solo) on Thursday night. Carlos Renzullo hit an RBI single in the third to put the Grizzlies up 8-1, but San Jose roared back to tie the game after five innings. Holliday, who also doubled, singled and scored three runs) put Fresno back on top with his homer in the sixth. Cameron Nelson added three hits, drove in a run and scored a run, while Matt Klein and Renzullo each added doubles. Easton Marks picked up the blown save and win by throwing 3.2 scoreless innings with six strikeouts starting in the fifth when he relieved Zach Harris with the bases loaded. Marks prevented further damage when he forced a ground out to score a run charged to Harris and ended the inning with a strikeout.
Turns out former Mets icon and current broadcaster Keith Hernandez lives in Colorado. Kyle Newman interviewed Hernandez as he returned to the broadcast booth during the Rockies series after recovering from back surgery. Hernandez talked about his career and his breakout role playing himself on “Seinfeld.”
You have to wade through Colorado spring weather jokes and some pretty spicy takes, but if you get to No. 10, you will find a treat. Not only do they say Mickey Moniak will be an All-Star, but they slot him in as a starter.
The Dodgers called the Rockies fishy. The Mets are blaming a lack of camera angles. Teams sure don’t like losing to the Rockies.
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