After a long, uneventful offseason following the shortest regular season in baseball history, hopeful Arizona Diamondbacks fans who were not among the 2,100 fans in attendance were likely left turning off their TVs in despair after losing their spring training opener to the Colorado Rockies.

This was the first chance for both teams to get used to the new spring training rules that took effect this season. For example, until March 13, games can be anywhere between five and nine innings depending on what both managers agree upon.  The league has also decided to allow pitchers to reenter the game after being pulled.

It was decided that Sunday’s opening game would be eight innings.

The Diamondbacks gained a 2-0 lead into the bottom of the fourth after Trayce Thompson, brother of Golden State Warriors superstar Klay Thompson, hit a home run to start his second season with the D-Backs with a bang. Thompson was acquired as a free agent last season after he was released by the Cleveland Indians.

The D-Back’s 2-0 lead was short lived after the Rockies, who are now without their all-time great Nolan Arenado, scored two runs in the top of the fourth and one in the fifth inning, to take a lead that Arizona would never find an answer to — eventually leading to a 5-2 loss.

However, there were some positive takeaways from the loss that bring some hope to fans of the club.

Starting pitcher Zac Gallen threw two scoreless innings allowing two hits and striking out one. Pitching has been a great struggle for the D-backs the previous few seasons; a great outing is something for fans to always be thankful for and hope that it carries over into the regular season.

The Diamondbacks were bested in nearly all statistical categories by the Rockies, however, the D-Backs were perfect in the field, recording zero errors.

Learning to make progress before the regular season starts will be crucial for the team’s success and a lack of pitching seems to be the problem from the past few seasons. Especially after the major signing deal of Madison Bumgarner who performed well below expectations last season.

The Diamondbacks will look to make adjustments quickly before they face the Milwaukee Brewers on Monday, March 1, at the Salt River Fields at Talking Stick.