These are rough times for all those who took pleasure in the Colorado Rockies’ historically bad April.

A team that couldn’t do anything right in the opening month of the season is now red hot, having won six of its last seven games after bludgeoning the New York Mets 13-6 at Citi Field on Sunday afternoon.

Rookie center fielder Brenton Doyle showed off his power and speed in a three-hit, three-RBI, three-run day, reaching on a pair of infield singles, stealing a base and smacking his first big-league home run.

“Freaking amazing,” Doyle told AT&T Sportsnet after the game. “It’s even better that we clinched the series win today.”

Randal Grichuk and Kris Bryant mashed dingers of their own — the latter part of a seven-run fifth inning — and Colorado scored a season-high 13 runs on 14 hits to overcome an erratic start from Ryan Feltner that included six walks. Colorado is 8-4 since starting the season 6-17, with a three-game set at NL Central leader Pittsburgh starting Monday.

“The guys are playing complete games in all facets,” manager Bud Black told reporters. “… We’re running the bases hard, we’re playing better defense, that helps. With the exception of Ryan today with the walks, the pitchers are doing their part of pounding the strike zone the last week to 10 days.”

Grichuk got things started early for the Rockies in the first, sending Mets right-hander Joey Lucchesi’s belt-high 92 mph sinker into the second deck in left field for a solo home run. The 426-foot blast was Grichuk’s first home run of the season as he continued his torrid start (11 of 27, .407) since returning from offseason hernia surgery.

Doyle flashed his speed two innings later, laying down a bunt single to lead off the third, then scoring from first on Jurickson Profar’s double to the right-center field gap. Bryant brought Profar home with a flare to center field to knot the score at 3-all.

Lucchesi lasted just four innings after starting on three days’ rest, and his successor, Jimmy Yacabonis, didn’t even make it out of the fifth. Bryant made Yacabonis pay for a leadoff walk (Grichuk) by barreling an 82 mph sweeper 406 feet to center field for a two-run homer. Three batters later, Ezequiel Tovar poked an 0-2 fastball down the first base line for a double that scored C.J. Cron (walk) and Ryan McMahon (double) and spelled the end of Yacabonis’s day.

Austin Wynns greeted right-hander Tommy Hunter with a single to left to score Tovar on his first hit with the Rockies. Then Doyle put the finishing touches on the seven-run fifth by taking a 90 mph cutter the other way for a two-run home run. Doyle added a run-scoring infield single and stolen base in the seventh and scored again in the ninth on a wild pitch.

“You saw the complete offensive tool set today (from Doyle),” Black said. “We’ve seen glimpses of that without the home run. The power is in there, so we’re going to let him play.”

All that run support was enough to overcome a dreadful outing from Feltner, who followed up three straight solid starts (1.06 ERA over 17 innings) with a dud (four earned runs over 3 1/3 innings).

The right-hander issued seven walks including a four-pitch walk to start off a three-run Mets first inning highlighted by run-scoring singles from Jeff McNeil and Brett Baty. Things could have been even worse for Feltner in the first, but Luis Guillorme’s apparent two-out RBI single to right came up empty when Bryant caught Daniel Vogelbach off second base with a throw to Tovar prior to Baty touching home plate.

Feltner walked at least one batter in each of the first four innings. His ERA ballooned to 5.08 after only 43 of his 83 pitches went for strikes. Black had seen enough by the time his sixth and final walk loaded the bases with one out in the fourth inning, pulling him in favor of Brent Suter.

“Patient lineup and I didn’t have a feel for any of my pitches, so those two things combined as kind of a perfect storm,” Feltner told reporters. “That’s not who I am as a pitcher, and just one of those days.”

Suter gave up an infield single to McNeil that scored Francisco Alvarez — the first inherited runner to score on the lefty all season — but then struck out Pete Alonso and got Baty to tap a slow grounder back to him to limit the damage.

The Rockies’ seven-run fifth followed, and the Colorado bullpen allowed just two runs the rest of the way.

Pitching Matchup

Rockies LHP Kyle Freeland (3-3, 3.76) at Pirates RHP Mitch Keller (3-1, 3.32 ERA)

4:35 p.m. Monday, PNC Park

TV: ATTRM

Radio: 850 AM/94.1 FM

The Rockies’ most consistent starter to date, Freeland has four quality starts in seven outings and has logged at least five innings pitched in all but one. One of the keys to his strong start: Freeland has walked just eight batters over 38 1/3 innings, contributing to a 1.10 WHIP. He was solid in his last trip to the mound, tossing five scoreless innings with five strikeouts, three hits and zero walks to get the win against Milwaukee. PNC Park has been a house of horrors for Freeland, however, with the lefty 0-2 with a 6.50 ERA in four starts at Pittsburgh.

Keller has been a bright spot for the first-place Pirates this season, notching 48 strikeouts over 40 2/3 innings. His 1.205 WHIP is a career-best, while his 10.6 strikeouts per nine innings is his highest since his rookie year in 2019. The right-hander had tossed at least six innings in five consecutive starts before last Wednesday at Tampa Bay, when he gave up five runs (one earned) on five hits and one walk in an 8-1 loss to the Rays.

Pitching probables

Tuesday: Rockies RHP Connor Seabold (0-0, 5.30) at Pirates TBA, 4:35 p.m., ATTRM
Wednesday: Rockies RHP Antonio Senzatela (0-1, 1.80) at Pirates LHP Rich Hill (3-3, 4.54 ERA), 10:35 a.m., ATTRM
Thursday: Off day

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