ST. PETERSBURG -- Sometimes the smallest things can turn a solid day into a head-scratcher.

Such was the case for Rockies starter Chad Bettis after Monday’s 7-1 loss to the Rays, after his outing was altered dramatically based on a small percentage of his night.

“To sum it up,” he said, “it [came] down to two pitches.”

The first, a fastball. Bettis cruised through three frames before permitting his first hit, a ground-ball single to Ji-Man Choi in the fourth. Two pitches later, Brandon Lowe sent a hung fastball out of the park, and Tampa Bay had the lead for good.

“I think if that pitch is a little more down, executed a little bit better, that outcome doesn’t happen,” Bettis said.

The second, a changeup. A seven-pitch fifth inning showed Bettis had regained his momentum, and though he allowed a pair of ground-ball singles to open the sixth, the righty was in no real danger. Then Kevin Kiermaier took a changeup -- one Bettis admitted he “felt good about" -- over the wall, sinking the Rockies into a 6-1 hole.

“[Bettis] produced a lot of ground balls, and that’s Chad’s game,” Colorado manager Bud Black said. “They got some balls through the infield -- well-placed -- that’s baseball. I thought the first three innings were pretty crisp …

“But overall, if you look back, you can critique it and say a couple bad pitches really came back to bite him.”

Bettis came on strong this spring, winning nods of approval from fans and Rockies staff alike after posting a 1-0 record and 3.38 ERA over 16 innings. He battled a stiff neck late in Cactus League play but still cracked the rotation as Colorado’s No. 5 starter.

Monday was his first regular-season start since Aug. 12, 2018, and although it wasn’t the outing he hoped for, Bettis was still able to pull a few positives from his time.

“I felt good early … really good,” he said. “Overall, I felt like I was in command with the majority of everything.”

He finished with six earned runs on seven hits, fanned five and walked two in 5 2/3 innings.

Colorado, meanwhile, connected at the plate but continued to miss out on the big hit: either the one to keep the rally alive, or one to clear the bags. The Rockies mustered just one run, on a Nolan Arenado double in the sixth. They’ve scored just twice in the past 24 innings.

“We know we haven’t performed the way we want to,” shortstop Trevor Story said. “We’ve certainly underperformed. But we’ve only played five games. … There’s no panic here. We’re very confident, and we know just a couple of big hits are going to turn us around.”

McGee OK after early exit
Rockies reliever Jake McGee had an ice wrap on his left knee following the game but said he felt fine after running the gamut of strength tests with Rockies training staff after his early exit.

“I was feeling really good, and that last pitch, on that strikeout, I just felt something a little weird in my knee that didn’t really feel right in the moment,” he said. “I didn’t really want to push it, either. It’s kind of more precautionary; we’ll see where I’m at tomorrow and see how it feels.”

McGee departed with two outs in the eighth inning following a short visit from training staff and an unsuccessful attempt at a warmup pitch that sailed wide left. He’ll be re-evaluated Tuesday.