When Colorado Rockies starting pitcher Ryan Feltner took the mound on Thursday night against the San Francisco Giants at Oracle Park, the thought was that he'd stay steady in the start.

Obviously, he was not steady or sharp as the Giants eventually won 8-2 in the first game of a four-game series in San Francisco.

In 4.1 innings of work, Feltner surrendered four earned runs. Giants hitters were lining up pretty well on his pitches, leaving the starting pitcher wondering what happened.

Rockies manager Warren Schaeffer and Feltner both believe that a change in altitude affected his outing. When Feltner faced the Giants last weekend at Coors Field, a place where Feltner reportedly feels more comfortable on the mound, he looked solid against San Francisco in that start.

Thursday night, though, was a different story.

“He looked like he didn’t have much feel for the ball early on,” Schaeffer said, according to MLB.com. “Early on, the command was shaky. But he reeled it in a little bit, battled through it and kind of held them at bay for a while.”

And, what did Feltner think about his outing?

“Just wasn’t sharp,” Feltner said. “Struggled with the [coming down from] elevation to sea level. Pitches were moving a lot more than I am used to. Walks are uncharacteristic for me and I was frustrated by those.”

Feltner even noted now that change in altitude, which puts pitchers in a position to deal with a hitter's ballpark, affected his fastball.

“The biggest difference was with my fastball,” he said. “It just carries up and away a lot and I wasn’t able to make the adjustment. Especially with that lineup seeing me a few times in a row.”

In the fifth inning, Feltner allowed five straight Giants hitters to reach base. San Francisco scored two runs at that time, leaving Schaeffer but no option to turn to his bullpen at that moment.

Tanner Gordon gets the start on Friday night at Oracle Park for the Rockies against Giants elite pitcher Robbie Ray.

Gordon will need to come out and deliver a solid outing. That way, it gives time for Rockies hitters to make a dent into Ray.

This series is a battle between two teams fighting for fourth place in the National League West Division. Right now, the Giants are two games up on the Rockies. Colorado had a chance to get even with San Francisco with a win on Thursday night.

Now, it looks like Colorado will have to win the next three games in this series to shift their position from cellar dwellers to a fourth-place team.

The Rockies have their work cut out for them. Let's see if they can draw up some comeback magic or, maybe, grab an early lead and hold on to it on Friday night.

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