LOS ANGELES (AP) — Shohei Ohtani set a major league record by homering and stealing a base for the 14th time in the same game and the Los Angeles Dodgers rallied to beat the last-place Colorado Rockies 6-4.
Ohtani’s 52nd homer and 52nd stolen base allowed him to break the old mark of 13 games set by Rickey Henderson in 1986 with the New York Yankees.
Teoscar Hernández hit a go-ahead homer leading off the sixth inning that gave the Dodgers a 4-3 lead.
The NL West-leading Dodgers’ magic number was reduced to five to clinch the division.
Spoiler alert: Should the Diamondbacks fall out of the wild-card playoff race, they might point to this September series with the Rockies.
Last year’s surprise National League pennant winner has owned the Rockies for the last two seasons. But these September Rockies aren’t those Rockies.
They proved it again Tuesday night with an 8-2 romp over the D-backs at Coors Field. Colorado won Game 1 of the series, 3-2, on Monday night. The Rockies might still be roadkill away from LoDo, but they’re tough to beat at Coors, where they have a 19-12 record since July 4.
The victory was the 535th for manager Bud Black, who bypassed Clint Hurdle for the most in Rockies history.
“I’ve been a part of (milestones) before … it’s great,” Black said after veteran players Charlie Blackmon, Kyle Freeland, and German Marquez doused him with a celebratory beer-and-shaving-cream shower. “It’s great. It’s part of what makes us love the game. And when it’s over for all of us, it’s moments like this that you remember.”
Colorado’s formula Tuesday night included an excellent start from right-hander Ryan Feltner, home runs from Ezequiel Tovar and Hunter Goodman, and timely hitting up and down the order. Colorado hit 5 for 14 with runners in scoring position.
Arizona entered the night 8-3 in its last 11 games vs. the Rockies, and 18-6 in its last 24 dating back to the start of the 2023 season. But after losing two straight at Coors, they are now tied with the Mets for the NL’s final wild-card playoff spot.
Feltner, his fastball humming, pitched 6 1/3 innings, giving up just one run on five hits. He struck out only two but got a lot of weak contact, and Colorado’s defense backed him up with stellar play.
“I was on the same page with ‘Stahls’ all night, and we had great defense all night,” said Feltner, referring to veteran catch Jacob Stallings. “Just being able to trust Stahlings back there, and trusting the defense, it just frees me up. All of my pitches were working tonight and I just kept trying to pound the zone.”
Second baseman Brendan Rodgers fed Tovar at short to turn a sweet double play to end the sixth, and center fielder Brenton Doyle, in the hunt for his second straight Gold Glove, made a running catch in center field to rob Eugenio Suarez of extra bases in the seventh.
“It’s incredible,” Feltner said. “He floated like 20 feet in the air, it looked like from the pitcher’s mound.”
Feltner is turning the corner. Since July 2, he’s posted a 3.25 ERA, with a 1.26 WHIP and a .230 batting average against. Plus, the Rockies have won in each of his last five starts.
“The conviction with the fastball is key,” Black said. “When a pitcher believes in his fastball, and you have a good fastball, it makes the fastball better.
“It’s still a fastball of 93-94-95-96, and he’s had it all year. But for whatever reason, his conviction with his fastball for the past month makes it better. He wills it to good spots. He wills it to get outs.”
Still, Feltner had not won a decision at Coors since Aug. 9, 2022, vs. the Cardinals, an unwanted franchise record of 21 consecutive starts without a win at home. He was aware of the history, but not concerned.
“It doesn’t matter to me, and I don’t look into that stuff,” he said. “I just go out there to try and win the game.”
Second baseman Brendan Rodgers and shortstop Tovar turned a sweet double play to end the sixth, and center fielder Brenton Doyle made a running catch in center field to rob Eugenio Suarez of extra bases in the seventh.
The D-backs scored their only run off Feltner in the fourth, combining a leadoff double by Pavin Smith, a sacrifice bunt by Jake McCarthy and a groundout by Suarez.
Tovar (3 for 5, two RBIs) continues to prove he’s one of baseball’s best shortstops. He led off the third with a homer off Jordan Montgomery for his team-leading 25th long ball of the season. Tovar has also hit 43 doubles, the most by a shortstop in franchise history, the second-most in the NL, and the most by a Rockie since Nolan Arenado swatted 43 in 2017. The last Rockies player who had more than 43 doubles in a season was Matt Holliday, who had 50 in 2007.
In the seventh, Goodman, serving as the designated hitter instead of catching, hit a two-out, 441-foot solo blast to center off lefty reliever Blake Walston. It was Goodman’s second straight game with a homer, his fourth of the current homestand, and 13th of the season.
Colorado strung together three hits off Montgomery to take a 2-0 lead in the third. Michael Toglia led off with a soft double into no man’s land in shallow right field and scored on Stallings’ double to left. Jordan Beck (2 for 3) drove in Stallings with a two-out double to left.
Hunter Goodman was working on a nice game when he stepped into the batters’ box in the bottom of the eighth inning.
He made a career night with one more swing.
Goodman’s go-ahead grand slam was the exclamation point on a 9-5 victory Friday night for the Colorado Rockies against the Chicago Cubs in front of 38,406 at Coors Field. It was Goodman’s second home run of the game and his third hit. He had seven runs batted in, the most by a Colorado hitter since Elias Diaz had seven in a Sept. 9, 2022 game against Arizona.
The Rockies’ bullpen has been a strength of late, but Michael Busch crushed a three-run homer off reliever Victor Vodnik to pull the Cubs even in the eighth inning. Chicago had put two guys on with no outs twice since the first inning without scoring, but Busch left no doubt with a moonshot into the second deck in right field.
Adalyn Gomber’s dad didn’t work out his first-inning issues while on leave for her birth, but he pieced together an excellent outing in his first start back.
Austin Gomber allowed a pair of runs on three hits and a walk in the first inning. He’s now allowed 33 runs on 47 hits and 12 walks in 28 first innings, an ERA of 10.61.
He now has a 2.84 ERA in the 130 innings he’s pitched after the first this season.
Gomber entered the game with an MLB-high 27 home runs allowed. A big key to this one: He kept the ball in the field of play, while the Cubs pitchers could not.
The Cubs had multiple chances against Gomber after the first inning, but he induced an inning-ending double play in the fourth and then got back-to-back-to-back weak fly ball outs after the first two guys reached base in the sixth.
Goodman had the big hit during a three-run second inning to put the Rockies in front. His 430-foot, two-run homer to left field gave Colorado a 3-2 advantage. Brendan Rodgers got the Rockies on the board with a double down the left-field line that scored Ryan McMahon before Goodman’s two-out heroics.
Goodman also pushed across the club’s fourth run in the fourth inning with a soft line drive to left that plated Michael Toglia. He didn’t miss another home run by much in the sixth inning, sending Cubs centerfielder Pete Crow-Armstrong toward the wall with a 401-foot out that would have been gone in five of the 30 MLB parks.
Since hitting five homers in eight days in mid-June, Goodman had been mired in a 13-for-86 slump (.151) with 28 strikeouts and just two home runs in his past 31 contests.
Ezequiel Tovar provided what looked like insurance at the time with an opposite-field home run in the seventh to make it a 5-2 advantage. Tovar has also been slumping at the plate during the stretch run. He was hitting .196 with a .226 on-base percentage and four home runs since Aug. 1 (36 games), but singled in the second along with his 23rd homer of the year.
NOTES: Rockies manager Bud Black confirmed before the game that Antonio Senzatela will make his first start since May 10, 2023 on Monday night. Senzatela had Tommy John surgery in July 2023 to repair the ulnar collateral ligament sprain in his right elbow.
Black also said that Kris Bryant (back) is not close to returning to the lineup, and said it’s “increasingly possible” that his 2024 season is over. Bryant has two home runs in 37 games.
TV: Rockies.TV (streaming); Comcast/Xfinity (channel 1262); DirecTV (683); Spectrum (130, 445, 305, 435 or 445, depending on region).
Radio: 630 AM/94.1 FM
Freeland is 5-4 with a 3.36 ERA in 14 starts since returning from injury in late June. He’s been rolling of late, yielding a total of five earned runs in his past four starts. His two September outings have included nine strikeouts and no walks in 11 innings, with one earned run allowed combined. Freeland’s 3.17 K/BB ratio leads Rockies pitchers with at least 40 innings pitched.
Tallion has also allowed just one run combined in his past two starts. He struck out six in six innings of one-run ball in last start against the New York Yankees after seven shutout frames against the Pittsburgh Pirates in his first September outing. Taillon’s striking out fewer batters per nine innings (6.9) than any year of his career, but his OPS against (.689) is his lowest since 2019.
Pitching probables
Sunday: Cubs RHP Kyle Hendrickson (3-11, 6.51) at Rockies RHP Paul Quantrill (8-9, 4.63), 1:10 p.m.
Monday: Diamondbacks TBA at Rockies RHP Antonio Senzatela (0-0, 0.00), 6:40 p.m.
Tuesday: Diamondbacks TBA at Rockies TBA, 6:40 p.m.
DETROIT (AP) — Kerry Carpenter matched a career-high with four hits and the Detroit Tigers kept their improbable wild-card hopes alive with a 7-4 win over the Colorado Rockies on Wednesday night.
Carpenter came up in the seventh needing a homer for the cycle — the first for a Tiger since Carlos Guillen in 2006 — but hit an infield single.
Tigers starter Casey Mize allowed four runs on six hits in 4 2/3 innings, striking out seven without walking a batter. Tyler Holton got the win with two scoreless innings of relief and Jason Foley got his 22nd save with a scoreless ninth.
DETROIT (AP) — Rookie Keider Montero pitched Detroit’s first individual shutout in three seasons and the Tigers beat the Colorado Rockies 11-0.
Montero (5-6) was making his 14th major league start and became the first Tigers pitcher with nine shutout innings since Spencer Turnbull’s no-hitter in Seattle on May 18, 2021.
The 24-year-old right-hander needed 96 pitchers while facing the minimum 27 batters. He allowed three singles and struck out five without walking a batter.
Parker Meadows hit a solo homer in the first inning, his seventh, and drove in three runs.
DENVER — Rockies great Matt Holliday threw out the first pitch to his son, Orioles second baseman Jackson Holliday, before the Rockies-Orioles game at Coors Field Saturday.
Matt Holliday played the first six seasons of his career with Colorado and ranks second in franchise history with a .319 batting average as a Rocky. He made three All-Star Games with Colorado and finished second in the NL MVP vote in 2007.
Jackson Holliday was the No. 1 overall pick in the 2022 MLB Draft and made his major league debut this year.
Drew Romo drove in a career-high three runs and Jordan Beck had a go-ahead RBI single in the bottom of the eighth inning to lift the Rockies to a 7-5 victory against the Orioles in the game.
Charlie Blackmon added two RBIs for the Rockies in the fourth inning with his fourth triple of the season.
Brendan Rodgers and Nolan Jones each had a pair of hits for Colorado, with Rodgers recording his fifth RBI in the past four games. Jones scored what was ultimately the game-winning run off of Beck’s single.
Jackson Holliday went 1-for-4 with a run and three strikeouts in the game.
DENVER (AP) — Kyle Freeland went six innings, Aaron Schunk hit his first major league home run and the Rockies took advantage of four Marlins errors to beat Miami 8-2.
Nolan Jones hit a pair of RBI singles and Drew Romo added two hits and an RBI for Colorado. Ezequiel Tovar added a two-run double in the bottom of the eighth.
Derek Hill homered for Miami, which fell to 6-15 in its last 21 games.
Freeland (4-6) allowed two runs on six hits and he struck out five with a walk. Max Meyer (3-4) went five-plus innings and allowed five hits and five runs, three earned for the loss.
NEW YORK (AP) — Aaron Judge hit his MLB-leading 49th home run of the season Friday night, helping the New York Yankees to a 3-0 win over the Colorado Rockies.
Judge homered for the fourth straight game, sending a 388-foot shot to left-center off Kyle Freeland (3-6) in the sixth inning.
In earlier at-bats, Judge grounded into a double play and lined out. He popped out to third base in his final at-bat in the eighth.
Judge has eight homers in his last 11 games and 17 homers in his last 34. He is one home run shy of becoming just the fifth player in history to record three 50-homer seasons.
Giancarlo Stanton homered for New York in the fourth inning.
Quality start doesn’t begin to describe Austin Gomber’s performance.
How about dominating? Or commanding? Or just plain terrific?
Whatever the adjective, Gomber sparkled in the Rockies’ 3-1 win over the Nationals on Tuesday night in Washington, D.C.
The left-hander, throwing a confounding curveball, was in command for all seven innings. His one mistake was giving up a leadoff homer to CJ Abrams in the sixth.
Gomber yielded just three hits, struck out five and walked two. He was efficient, too, throwing 96 pitches, 63 for strikes. It marked the second time in his career that he pitched seven innings and allowed three hits or fewer.
The bullpen backed up the starter. Tyler Kinley, who’s been on a roll, pitched a scoreless eighth, despite giving up a two-out double to Alex Call.
Rookie right-hander Angel Chivilli was called on to close out the game because usual ninth-inning reliever Victor Vodnik was out with discomfort in his right shoulder.
Chivilli, who picked up his first career win on Sunday against the Padres, notched his first career save. Utilizing his effective changeup, he dodged some trouble in the ninth — giving up a walk and a bloop single — but he never lost his cool.
The Rockies received offensive boosts from two players who were way past due. Ryan McMahon delivered in the first with an RBI single, driving in Ezequiel Tovar, who had reached on a one-out double vs. rookie left-hander DJ Herz.
Nolan Jones, who came off the injured list on Sunday, delivered an RBI single to score Brenton Doyle in Colorado’s two-run sixth. A throwing error charged to Nationals third baseman Jose Tena — first baseman Andres Chaparro should have scooped the ball — led to the Rockies’ other run when Brendan Rodgers came around to score.
Feltner progressing. Right-hander Ryan Feltner, placed on the 15-day injured list on Aug. 8 with a right shoulder strain, is scheduled to start for Triple-A Albuquerque at Round Rock on Wednesday. Manager Bud Black told MLB.com that Feltner would throw three to four innings (50-60 pitches), and then the club would discuss Feltner’s next step.
Wednesday’s pitching matchup
Rockies RHP Tanner Gordon (0-4, 7.00 ERA) at Nationals LHP Mitchell Parker (6-7, 4.44)
4:45 p.m. Wednesday, Nationals Park
TV: Rockies.TV (streaming); Comcast/Xfinity (channel 1262); DirecTV (683); Spectrum (130, 445, 305, 435 or 445, depending on region).
Radio: 850 AM/94.1 FM
Pitching probables
Gordon is still trying to find his big-league footing, especially after his tough start at Arizona last Wednesday, when he was ripped for four runs on three hits in just two-thirds of an inning. He has pitched deep into several games, going six innings or more in three of his six major league starts. The rookie has never faced the Nationals.
The Phillies rocked Parker in his last start. He allowed nine runs on 10 hits and two walks over three innings. Still, he managed to strike out six. Philly pounded Parker in the first inning when six consecutive batters reached base, and he gave up two homers. Parker had pitched six scoreless innings in each of his previous two starts coming in, but he’s now failed to make it through four innings in three of his last six outings. The rookie started against the Rockie on June 22 at Coors Field and lasted six innings in a no-decision. Colorado tagged him for four runs on four hits, including a homer. He struck out eight and walked two. The Rockies won the game 8-7.
Thursday: RHP Cal Quantrill (8-8, 4.59) at Nationals LHP Patrick Corbin (2-12, 5.92), 11:15 a.m.
Friday: Rockies LHP Kyle Freeland (3-5, 5.97) at Yankees LHP Carlos Rodon (13-8, 4.34), 5:05 p.m.
Saturday: Rockies RHP Bradley Blalock (0-0, 2.92) at RHP Marcus Stroman (8-6, 3.82), 12:05 p.m.
DENVER (AP) — Brendan Rodgers and Charlie Blackmon homered, Cal Quantrill pitched effectively for five innings and the Colorado Rockies beat the San Diego Padres 7-3 on Friday night.
Jordan Beck added three hits, including an RBI single for the Rockies, who cooled off the surging Padres. Before Friday, the Padres had won 19 of their 23 games dating back to the All-Star break, including 10 of their last 11.
Ha-Seong Kim and Xander Bogaerts homered for the Padres.
Quantrill allowed three runs on six hits while striking out five and walking two.
PHOENIX (AP) — Corbin Carroll and Kevin Newman scrambled home on back-to-back wild pitches in the seventh inning, leading the Arizona Diamondbacks past the Colorado Rockies 5-4 on Monday night for their fourth straight win.
The D-backs continued their extended roll, with an 18-5 record since the All-Star break.
Arizona’s Brandon Pfaadt tied a career-high with 11 strikeouts over seven innings. The lanky right-hander gave up four runs on eight hits.
Jake McCarthy added two hits and two RBIs. Newman and Josh Bell also had two hits.
ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Brenton Doyle capped an impressive July with a towering home run in the eighth inning, Ezequiel Tovar extended his hitting streak to 17 games and the Colorado Rockies beat the Los Angeles Angels 2-1 to snap a five-game losing streak.
Logan O’Hoppe hit a solo shot in the fifth inning for the Angels, who are 2-4 on their current homestand.
Doyle, who missed Tuesday’s game due to a bruised right index finger, connected on a slider from Hans Crouse (4-2) that went 431 feet into the left-field stands beyond the bullpens to put the Rockies back on top.
It was Doyle’s 11th homer in July, tied with Oakland’s Brent Rooker for most in the majors, and it was his 19th extra-base hit, which led MLB.
Denver 7+ Colorado News Latest Headlines | July 31, 10pm
Colorado’s Angel-filled nightmare continued in Tuesday’s series opener in Anaheim.
The Rockies entered the game with the lowest winning percentage against the Angels of any opponent in franchise history at .311. And that mark slipped a little more after the Rockies blew an early lead en route to a 10-7 defeat at Angel Stadium.
Right-hander Cal Quantrill was roughed up in the defeat, yielding a season-high seven runs in 3 2/3 innings.
“We had the lead 6-2, we had the lead 6-4,” Rockies manager Bud Black told reporters. “It was surprising and frustrating for Cal that he couldn’t get through this one. He’s been so good for us all year, so that was unexpected.”
Colorado jumped on right-hander Griffin Canning right off the bat, with two runs in the first inning and then four in the second.
Kris Bryant’s sacrifice fly and Brendan Rodgers’ RBI double made it 2-0 early, then after Taylor Ward’s two-RBI single off Quantrill in the bottom of the frame, Ezequiel Tovar’s sacrifice fly plus Ryan McMahon’s three-run homer gave the Rockies a commanding early lead.
But Quantrill — who remains in a Rockies uniform despite being the subject of trade speculation up through Tuesday’s deadline — wasn’t sharp.
The right-hander lacked command of his signature pitch, the splitter. Los Angeles got a two-RBI double by Matt Thaiss in the third, then Ward and Thaiss drove home runs in the fourth to swing the lead back to the Angels, 7-6, and chase Quantrill from the game.
“There were some elevated pitches, and (Quantrill) threw a number of splits and that was part of the gameplan, he just didn’t have the feel for it,” Black said.
Tovar tied the game in the seventh off southpaw Jose Quijada via the shortstop’s 18th homer of the year, tying Michael Toglia for a team high. Tovar was the Rockies’ lone baserunner after the second inning.
Los Angeles retook the lead, again, in the bottom of the seventh via Jo Adell’s monstrous solo homer, a 439-foot shot to center off right-hander Jake Bird.
The Angels then added on to that late lead via Zach Neto’s push bunt and Thaiss’ RBI single that plated two more runs off Justin Lawrence.
“The pitching wasn’t up to par at all today,” Black said. “We didn’t hit in (a four-game sweep in) San Francisco… Today we hit, and we didn’t pitch.”
Thaiss finished with five RBIs, and is the first player in Angels history to drive in five runs and have two steals in a single game. Thaiss is also just the second catcher in MLB history to accomplish that feat, joining Hall of Famer Mickey Cochrane, who did it for the Tigers in 1934.
Meanwhile, the Colorado offense couldn’t muster another surge with the game on the line, getting set down in order in the eighth by Ben Joyce before fellow right-hander Hunter Strickland did the same to the Rockies in the ninth.
Wednesday’s pitching matchup
Rockies LHP Kyle Freeland (2-4, 6.23 ERA) at Angels TBA
7:38 p.m. Wednesday, Angel Stadium
TV: Rockies.TV (streaming); Comcast/Xfinity (channel 1262); DirecTV (683); Spectrum (130, 445, 305, 435 or 445, depending on region).
Radio: 850 AM/94.1 FM
Freeland was in a groove before getting derailed in his last start in San Francisco, when the Giants tagged him for six runs on eight hits in four innings, including a pair of homers. Before that, he posted five straight quality starts following his return from the injured list due to an elbow strain. The southpaw’s been decent getting hitters to swing at pitches out of the zone, as he ranks in the 68th percentile in chase rate. He’s also been striking out more hitters lately than he usually does, including eight K’s in his last outing and nine in Cincinnati on July 10. Los Angeles has yet to announce its starter for Game 2 of the series.
Pitching probables
Thursday: Rockies RHP Ryan Feltner (1-10, 4.99) at Angels RHP Carson Fulmer (0-2, 3.77), 7:38 p.m.
Friday: Rockies TBA at Padres TBA, 7:40 p.m.
Saturday: Rockies LHP Austin Gomber (2-7, 4.79) at Padres RHP Michael King (9-6, 3.26), 6:40 p.m.
Cave inspires Rockies fan despite a tough season for the team
I’ve been following the Rockies since their beginning in 1993. My favorite player in those first years was Dante Bichette. He was such a clutch power hitter and I loved his coach Don Baylor. Baylor believed in Bichette and they were friends. In 2020 the Rockies signed Connor Joe. He was a cancer survivor who was inspiring. He made each play like it was his last. Connor Joe became my favorite player. I still love both Bichette and Joe and was inspired watching them play.
In a season where the Rockies are at the bottom of the NL West, I don’t know why but this is my favorite season to watch the Rockies. It shouldn’t be, but I think it has a lot to do with Jake Cave, Ezequiel Tovar, Nolan Jones, Michael Toglia, Charlie Blackmon, Hunter Goodman, Kyle Freeland, Ryan McMahon, Brenton Doyle, and their manager, Bud Black.
Cave, now my favorite Rockies player of all time, is a real-life Crash Davis with a gray beard and a relentless engine. He is playing each game with desperation as if the Rockies are going to send him back to the minors. He makes me believe the Rockies might completely turn it around for the second half of the season.
Whatever happens, I thank the current Rockies for entertaining this retired 69-year-old man. You have given the devoted fans eternal hope, and it is riding on a 31-year-old gray beard who has no idea he shouldn’t be playing this well.
Steven Antonuccio, Pueblo
Harris is an exciting choice for president
What a summer for the Democratic Party! Today, I find myself as excited about the 2024 election as I was when Barack Obama ran in 2008. Kamala Harris brings a freshness and energy we sorely need. Discouragingly, I am hearing grumblings from people who say America is “just not ready” to have a black woman as president. I say to those people, you need to check your own biases. Black Americans and women are top leaders in all segments of our society today. Questions around how race, ethnicity and gender factor into ability have been asked and satisfactorily answered over and over since this country was founded. The only relevant question now is whether Vice President Harris has the intelligence, skills, fortitude, morals, values, and drive to lead this country.
Tamara Bennett, Carbondale
If you really want to thank me for my service …
I joined the Navy in 1968, one step ahead of the draft. This was just prior to the lottery system and beer-swigging wise-ass 19-year-old punks with lousy high school transcripts, such as me, were being swept up off the streets of America to participate in our first war fought for no logical reason: Vietnam. I consider myself a draft dodger by joining the Navy. Fortunately for me, the Navy gave me a chance to grow up, become focused, and develop self-discipline without the risk of lead poisoning.
Since the Navy provides medical and dental support for the Marines, I proudly served with them for seven of my 21 years of active duty. I retired as a senior chief petty officer.
As to my response to “Thank you for your service!” it will depend on my mood of the moment. Usually, I simply shake their hand and move on. But, occasionally, I will continue to shake their hand (that really makes some people uncomfortable) and say that if they actually wanted to thank me, then promise to not waste any more young, naive patriots in any war fought for no reason such as Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan. When I let go of their hand, off the sincere citizen goes at double time.
The Rockies said they would pick the best player available in the Major League Baseball draft with the third overall pick.
As it turned out, they just might have landed the very best player in the draft when they selected Charlie Condon, a third baseman/outfielder out of Georgia.
“He’s the kind of guy who has the chance to change the face of the organization,” Danny Montgomery, assistant GM of scouting, said. “(With his) power and the ability to do things defensively, and a little bit of versatility, we were all extremely happy.
“We would have been happy with any of the other four guys we had (targeted), but this guy is really special.”
The Rockies also selected Brody Brecht, a right-handed pitcher out of Iowa who led the Big Ten Conference in strikeouts in 2024, with the 38th pick. With the 42nd pick, Colorado selected University of Texas infielder/outfielder Jared Thomas, an all-around hitter and earner of First Team All-Big 12 honors as a sophomore in 2024.
It took 14 innings and required clutch defense, but the Rockies gutted out a 5-4 win over the White Sox Sunday afternoon at Guarantee Rate Field.
Colorado manufactured the winning run in the 14th when Sam Hilliard’s sacrifice bunt moved Ryan McMahon from second to third, and then McMahon scored on Michael Toglia’s sacrifice fly.
Lefty reliever Jalen Beeks kept the White Sox from scoring in the bottom of the frame to help the Rockies end their five-game losing streak.
The Rockies won despite getting only six hits, striking out 21 times and going 2 for 17 with runners in scoring position.
Without web gems from center fielder Brenton Doyle, left fielder Nolan Jones, shortstop Ezequiel Tovar and third baseman Ryan McMahon, the Rockies would not escaped Chicago with a victory in the three-game series.
Long before the 3-hour, 25-minute marathon was decided, lefty Kyle Freeland gave the Rockies 6 2/3 workmanlike innings. His only big mistake through the first five innings came in the fourth. He threw a misplaced 0-1 slider to leadoff hitter Andrew Vaughn, who parked the ball to left to get the White Sox on the scoreboard.
The sixth was a little rough for Freeland. He gave up solid singles to Vaughn and Eloy Jimenez, but Freeland’s defense rescued him. Doyle did a Superman dive to rob Luis Robert of a hit, and Jones snared Paul DeJong’s sinking liner.
Chicago tied the game, 2-2, in the seventh when Freeland faltered. Corey Julks and Lenyn Sosa opened the inning with back-to-back singles, and Danny Mendick’s perfect bunt moved them into scoring position. Freeland got out No. 2 by inducing pinch-hitter Korey Lee to pop out to center fielder Doyle.
But then Freeland walked Tommy Pham, loading the bases. Manager Bud Black called on right-hander Victor Vodnik, but Vodnik walked Vaughn on five pitches to force in the tying run.
The Rockies took a 2-0 lead in the second by doing something they haven’t done very often on the road this season: string quality at-bats together. McMahon led off with a single and raced to third on Elias Diaz’s single. McMahon scored on starter Garrett Crochet’s balk and Diaz advanced to second.
Toglia’s single moved Diaz to third and Diaz scored on Hunter Goodman’s sacrifice fly to right.
Colorado Rockies’ Elias Diaz celebrates after scoring on a sacrifice fly by Hunter Goodman during the second inning of a baseball game against the Chicago White Sox in Chicago, Sunday, June 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)
CHICAGO (AP) — Rookie Drew Thorpe pitched two-hit ball over six innings in winning his second straight start, and the Chicago White Sox beat the Colorado Rockies 5-3 to start a weekend series between teams with the majors’ worst records.
Thorpe retired 16 in a row after Brenton Doyle led off the game with a single. He walked Sam Hilliard with one out in the sixth before Doyle put Colorado on top 2-1 with a 426-foot drive to left.
Those were the only baserunners Thorpe allowed in his fourth career start. The 23-year-old right-hander tossed six scoreless innings at Detroit last week on the way to his first major league victory.
The White Sox scored four in the sixth and chased Rockies starter Dakota Hudson.
HOUSTON (AP) — Rookie Spencer Arrighetti struck out a season-high 10 in seven scoreless innings and Yainer Diaz had three hits to lead the Houston Astros to a 7-1 win over Colorado Wednesday to extend their winning streak to a season-long seven games.
The Astros, who opened the season a dismal 7-19, improved to 40-40 with the victory, reaching .500 for the first time this season.
Arrighetti (4-6) tied a season-low with three hits and didn’t walk a batter for the first time this year in his longest start of the season.
DENVER (AP) — Luis Garcia Jr.’s three-run homer highlighted a five-run third inning, Drew Millas had a home run among his three hits and the Washington National pounded out a season-high 19 hits in an 11-5 win over the Colorado Rockies.
Ezequiel Tovar, Hunter Goodman, and Nolan Jones homered for the Rockies in a game in which the teams combined for 30 hits.
Jacob Young had three hits and scored three runs, and CJ Abrams added three hits, with the first of his two doubles coming on the first pitch of the game from Dakota Hudson (2-10) to extend his career-best hitting streak to 12 games.
First things first: Adael Amador makes quite a first impression.
Called up from Double-A Hartford, Amador made his major league debut Sunday afternoon in St. Louis. The Rockies’ No. 1 prospect singled on his first swing on the first pitch he saw in his first at-bat. The second baseman’s forever-memory moment arrived when he led off the third inning with a looping single to right off Cardinals right-hander Andre Pallante. Amador connected on Pallante’s 94.1 mph fastball.
In Colorado’s 5-1 loss, Amador hit 1 for 3 with one strikeout and stole his first base. At age 21 and 59 days, Amador became the second-youngest position player in Rockies franchise history to make his major league debut behind current starting shortstop Ezequiel Tovar (21 years, 53 days), who debuted on Sept. 23, 2022.
“He looked fine of defense,” manager Bud Black told reporters in St. Louis. “He was probably a little amped up. … He expanded (the zone) a little bit today, which is out of his norm. But I think that will probably quiet down a little bit as each day goes on. We didn’t see the expansion of the strike zone in spring training. I’m sure he was fired up today, but overall, he looked comfortable.”
Amador, the No. 32 prospect in baseball according to MLB Pipeline, was called up to replace veteran second baseman Brendan Rodgers, who is dealing with a left hamstring strain and was placed on the 10-day injured list Sunday.
Unless Amador lights up major league pitching, his first stay with the Rockies will be short, and he’ll be optioned to the minors for more seasoning. But the Rockies thought the time was right to give Amador a test run.
“It’s going to give Amador a taste of the majors here for a short period of time until ‘B-Rod’ comes back,” Black told MLB.com. “We’re excited about that. It’ll give us a chance to look at him. He’ll be exposed to the pace of a major league game versus a Double-A game. He’s in good form at 21 years old.”
Even though Amador faced early failure at Double-A, that didn’t dissuade general manager Bill Schmidt from making the move.
“The thing that prompted this was the last 10 days, (Amador’s) been playing well,” Black said. “He’s hit some homers. Even though his batting average is below .200 and doesn’t look great, he’s been hitting well over .300 the last week or so. His defense has been fine. He’s leading the Eastern League in walks and stolen bases, so there are some things to be excited about.”
Amador was slashing just .194/.337/.329 over 209 plate appearances when he got his call to the majors. But since mashing his first home run of the season on May 21, he slashed .295/.389/.656 (1.045 OPS) with seven homers, one double, 18 RBIs and seven stolen bases in 15 games. During his hot streak, he led the Eastern League in home runs while ranking second in RBIs, stolen bases and total bases (40).
With Aaron Schunk and Coco Montes, the Rockies have older players at Triple-A Albuquerque who could have replaced Rodgers, but neither is on the 40-man roster, so Amador’s promotion made the most sense.
