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  • Rockies acquire outfielder Jake McCarthy from Diamondbacks for pitching prospect Josh Grosz

    The Rockies swung an in-division trade on Saturday to add to their outfield depth.

    Colorado acquired Jake McCarthy from the Diamondbacks in exchange for right-handed pitching prospect Josh Grosz. McCarthy is coming off a down year with Arizona, but his past suggests the potential for his bat to help the Rockies lineup.

    With the move, Colorado’s 40-man roster is full, and the Rockies have another option in an outfield that is returning its top three contributors last year in Brenton Doyle, Jordan Beck and Mickey Moniak.

    Beyond those three and McCarthy, other outfielders currently on the 40-man include up-and-comers Yanquiel Fernández and Zac Veen, utilitymen Tyler Freeman and Troy Johnston, and the yet-to-debut Sterlin Thompson.

    Kyle Newman

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  • Cities and states are turning to AI to improve road safety

    As America’s aging roads fall further behind on much-needed repairs, cities and states are turning to artificial intelligence to spot the worst hazards and decide which fixes should come first.

    Hawaii officials, for example, are giving away 1,000 dashboard cameras as they try to reverse a recent spike in traffic fatalities. The cameras will use AI to automate inspections of guardrails, road signs and pavement markings, instantly discerning between minor problems and emergencies that warrant sending a maintenance crew.

    “This is not something where it’s looked at once a month and then they sit down and figure out where they’re going to put their vans,” said Richard Browning, chief commercial officer at Nextbase, which developed the dashcams and imagery platform for Hawaii.

    After San Jose, California, started mounting cameras on street sweepers, city staff confirmed the system correctly identified potholes 97% of the time. Now they’re expanding the effort to parking enforcement vehicles.

    Texas, where there are more roadway lane miles than the next two states combined, is less than a year into a massive AI plan that uses cameras as well as cellphone data from drivers who enroll to improve safety.

    Other states use the technology to inspect street signs or build annual reports about road congestion.

    Every guardrail, every day

    Hawaii drivers over the next few weeks will be able to sign up for a free dashcam valued at $499 under the “Eyes on the Road” campaign, which was piloted on service vehicles in 2021 before being paused due to wildfires.

    Roger Chen, a University of Hawaii associate professor of engineering who is helping facilitate the program, said the state faces unique challenges in maintaining its outdated roadway infrastructure.

    “Equipment has to be shipped to the island,” Chen said. “There’s a space constraint and a topography constraint they have to deal with, so it’s not an easy problem.”

    Although the program also monitors such things as street debris and faded paint on lane lines, the companies behind the technology particularly tout its ability to detect damaged guardrails.

    “They’re analyzing all guardrails in their state, every single day,” said Mark Pittman, CEO of Blyncsy, which combines the dashboard feeds with mapping software to analyze road conditions.

    Hawaii transportation officials are well aware of the risks that can stem from broken guardrails. Last year, the state reached a $3.9 million settlement with the family of a driver who was killed in 2020 after slamming into a guardrail that had been damaged in a crash 18 months earlier but never repaired.

    In October, Hawaii recorded its 106th traffic fatality of 2025 — more than all of 2024. It’s unclear how many of the deaths were related to road problems, but Chen said the grim trend underscores the timeliness of the dashboard program.

    Building a larger AI database

    San Jose has reported strong early success in identifying potholes and road debris just by mounting cameras on a few street sweepers and parking enforcement vehicles.

    But Mayor Matt Mahan, a Democrat who founded two tech startups before entering politics, said the effort will be much more effective if cities contribute their images to a shared AI database. The system can recognize a road problem that it has seen before — even if it happened somewhere else, Mahan said.

    “It sees, ‘Oh, that actually is a cardboard box wedged between those two parked vehicles, and that counts as debris on a roadway,’” Mahan said. “We could wait five years for that to happen here, or maybe we have it at our fingertips.”

    San Jose officials helped establish the GovAI Coalition, which went public in March 2024 for governments to share best practices and eventually data. Other local governments in California, Minnesota, Oregon, Texas and Washington, as well as the state of Colorado, are members.

    Some solutions are simple

    Not all AI approaches to improving road safety require cameras.

    Massachusetts-based Cambridge Mobile Telematics launched a system called StreetVision that uses cellphone data to identify risky driving behavior. The company works with state transportation departments to pinpoint where specific road conditions are fueling those dangers.

    Ryan McMahon, the company’s senior vice president of strategy & corporate development, was attending a conference in Washington, D.C., when he noticed the StreetVision software was showing a massive number of vehicles braking aggressively on a nearby road.

    The reason: a bush was obstructing a stop sign, which drivers weren’t seeing until the last second.

    “What we’re looking at is the accumulation of events,” McMahon said. “That brought me to an infrastructure problem, and the solution to the infrastructure problem was a pair of garden shears.”

    Texas officials have been using StreetVision and various other AI tools to address safety concerns. The approach was particularly helpful recently when they scanned 250,000 lane miles (402,000 kilometers) to identify old street signs long overdue for replacement.

    “If something was installed 10 or 15 years ago and the work order was on paper, God help you trying to find that in the digits somewhere,” said Jim Markham, who deals with crash data for the Texas Department of Transportation. “Having AI that can go through and screen for that is a force multiplier that basically allows us to look wider and further much faster than we could just driving stuff around.”

    Autonomous vehicles are next

    Experts in AI-based road safety techniques say what’s being done now is largely just a stepping stone for a time when a large proportion of vehicles on the road will be driverless.

    Pittman, the Blyncsy CEO who has worked on the Hawaii dashcam program, predicts that within eight years almost every new vehicle — with or without a driver — will come with a camera.

    “How do we see our roadways today from the perspective of grandma in a Buick but also Elon and his Tesla?” Pittman said. “This is really important nuance for departments of transportation and city agencies. They’re now building infrastructure for humans and automated drivers alike, and they need to start bridging that divide.”

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  • Hunter Goodman’s career night, Austin Gomber’s strong start lead Rockies past Cubs

    Hunter Goodman’s career night, Austin Gomber’s strong start lead Rockies past Cubs

    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.

    Corey Masisak

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  • Austin Gomber sparkles in Rockies’ 3-1 win over Nationals

    Austin Gomber sparkles in Rockies’ 3-1 win over Nationals

    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.

    Patrick Saunders

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  • Rockies blow early lead, drop fifth straight in series-opening loss to Angels as Cal Quantrill gets roughed up

    Rockies blow early lead, drop fifth straight in series-opening loss to Angels as Cal Quantrill gets roughed up

    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).

    Kyle Newman

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  • Rockies’ defense delivers in 14-inning win over White Sox

    Rockies’ defense delivers in 14-inning win over White Sox

    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.

    Patrick Saunders

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  • Ezequiel Tovar lifts Rockies to thrilling 3-2, 11-inning win over Phillies

    Ezequiel Tovar lifts Rockies to thrilling 3-2, 11-inning win over Phillies

    Heroes have been hard to find for the Rockies, but Friday night, there were plenty of them in LoDo.

    Shortstop Ezequiel Tovar ripped an RBI single down the left-field line off Phillies left-hander Gregory Soto to score Brenton Doyle from third and lift Colorado to a thrilling 3-2 victory.

    Tovar hit Soto’s 0-1 slider for the second walk-off hit of his career.

    “Honestly, I was just thinking, ‘Get a good at-bat there because our bullpen did a hell of a job tonight,’ ” Tovar said, using bullpen catcher Aaron Munoz as his interpreter.

    “Situations like that are extremely fun,” Tovar continued. “I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous in pregame or in any of those at-bats. But any situation, in any at-bat, I just try to get a hit up the middle, basically.”

    Tovar, who went 4 for 6 and had the first four-hit game of his career, would not have had the chance to don Superman’s cape had it not been for backup catcher Jacob Stallings. Or a lockdown night by the bullpen.

    In the ninth, with the Rockies trailing 2-1 and down to their final out, Stallings ripped a 427-foot, pinch-hit homer off Phillies closer Jose Alvarado to tie the game, 2-2. Stallings ambushed Alvarado’s first pitch, a 97 mph sinker, to send the game into extra innings.

    “I know what a tough at-bat Alvarado is,” said Stallings, who hit the first pinch-hit homer of his nine-year career. “But that was a really cool moment and it ranks up there as one of my favorites. But contributing to the win was the most important thing.”

    Stallings is the third player in Rockies history to launch a game-tying, pinch-hit home run with two outs in the ninth inning. The others were Larry Walker, on July 17, 1999, at Cincinnati, and Sam Hillard, on Sept. 28, 2019, vs. Milwaukee.

    And Colorado’s much-maligned relief corps came through big time.

    Reliever Nick Mears found himself against the ropes in the 10th. A one-out walk by Whit Merrifield, followed by a bloop single to center by pinch-hitter Kody Clemens, loaded the bases. But Mears struck out the dangerous Kyle Schwarber looking at a curveball and got J.T. Realmuto to ground out to first.

    On a night when Colorado desperately needed a reliever to come through, Mears delivered two scoreless innings. And then Tyler Kinley delivered a scoreless 11th to notch the win.

    The Rockies have become extra-inning warriors. They beat Oakland in 12 innings Wednesday night and lost to the A’s in 11 innings on Thursday. Friday marked just the second time the Rockies have played three consecutive extra-inning games. It last happened June 20-22, 2002, when the Rockies beat the Yankees in the 10th, followed by a win over Tampa in the 10th, then another win over Tampa in the 11th.

    Before all of the late-game drama, Colorado left-hander Ty Blach pitched a terrific game.

    The Phillies came to LoDo on a roll, having won 29 of their previous 35 games but Colorado went toe-to-toe with them.

    The night’s fireworks came early when Phillies star first baseman Bryce Harper was ejected in the first inning for arguing balls and strikes with home plate umpire Brian Walsh. Harper struck out on three pitches against Blach. Harper spiked his batting helmet and then continued to argue. It was Harper’s first ejection of the season and the 21st of his career.

    “Bummed,” Harper told reporters in the Philadelphia clubhouse. “I wasn’t trying to get thrown out. I was just having a conversation. There are guys who are professionals in this league. They understand it. I guess 120 didn’t understand it.”

    The “120” Harper reference is Walsh’s umpire jersey number.

    Crew chief Vic Carapazza provided a pool report about Harper’s ejection after the game.

    “What led to the ejection was that Bryce Harper was clearly upset about the pitches and Brian gave him a long leash,” Carapazza said. “He kept him in the game, and Bryce just kept arguing about balls and strikes and, at the end of the day, equipment violation is basically a big warning and, if you continue to talk about pitches, then Brian had to handle it. So that’s it, really.”

    Besides striking out Harper, Blach set the stage for the Rockies’ victory. Following in the footsteps of Cal Quantrill, Austin Gomber and Ryan Feltner’s excellent starts in Oakland, Blach slowed down the Phillies for 6 2/3 innings.

    The Phillies hurt him with two swings in the fifth inning. Nick Castellanos led off with a 445-foot blast to center, teeing off on Blach’s 1-0 cutter. Two batters later, Edmundo Sosa launched Blach’s 2-1 sinker into the left-field bleacher for a 2-0 Philly lead.

    Blach allowed five hits, struck out two, and walked two. Of his 78 pitches, 58 were thrown for strikes. Most impressive, his only three-ball counts of the night came vs. the final two batters he faced.

    “The key was to pitch down,” Blach said. “I know they like to do damage, so I tried to get some groundballs.

    He threw 78 pitches, 58 for strikes, in his very efficient night.

    “When I’m right, that’s how things are going,” he said. “I’m just attacking the zone and changing speeds, going in and out. The changeup was good tonight and I was able to keep those guys off-balance.”

    Colorado sliced Philadelphia’s lead in half in the bottom of the fifth, combining a double by Hunter Goodman, a single up the middle for Alan Trejo, who was filling in at third base for Ryan McMahon, and an RBI single by Tovar. Tovar’s 23 RBIs rank are tied for second on the team with  Elias Diaz and trail only McMahon (30).

    Saturday’s pitching matchup

    Phillies RHP Aaron Nola (6-2, 3.05 ERA) at Rockies RHP Dakota Hudson (1-7, 5.89)

    7:10 p.m. Saturday, Coors Field

    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

    While right-hander Cal Quantrill and lefty Austin Gomber have been pitching like All-Stars this month, Hudson continues to struggle. But he has made some progress, even though he picked up his seventh loss on Sunday at San Francisco. He allowed three runs (two earned) on five hits over 4 2/3 innings. Lack of pitch efficiency has been a problem for the right-hander all season. And Hudson has struggled at Coors Field, going 0-3 with a 9.00 ERA, 15 walks and 11 strikeouts over four starts. In five career starts against the Phillies, he’s 1-2 with a 3.58 ERA, 16 walks and 15 strikeouts. As a member of the Cardinals last season, he made two starts against Philly, going 0-1 with a 6.75 ERA.

    Nola has pitched well against Colorado, going 4-2 with a 3.36 ERA in 10 starts, striking out 72 while walking only 11. He dominated the Rockies in Philadelphia last month, allowing one run on four hits over 7 1/3 innings. He fanned nine and walked one. Nola is coming off a strong performance vs. the Nationals last Sunday when he allowed three runs (two earned) on two hits and three walks across seven innings. He struck out five. In five career starts at Coors Field, he’s 2-2 with a 4.22 ERA.

    Pitching probables

    Sunday: Phillies LHP Ranger Suarez (9-0, 1.36) at Rockies RHP Cal Quantrill (3-3, 3.59), 1:10 p.m.

    Monday: Guardians RHP Xzavion Curry (2-2, 1.93) at Rockies LHP Austin Gomber (1-2, 2.76), 2:10 p.m.

    Tuesday: Rockies TBD at Guardians TBD, 6:40 p.m.

    Want more Rockies news? Sign up for the Rockies Insider to get all our MLB analysis.

    Patrick Saunders

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  • Rockies’ late rally falls short, as Colorado swept by Cubs to finish opening road trip 1-6

    Rockies’ late rally falls short, as Colorado swept by Cubs to finish opening road trip 1-6

    If the Rockies’ opening road trip is any indication, the club’s first 100-loss season last year might’ve just been a harbinger.

    Colorado dropped to 1-6 in 2024 with a 9-8 loss to the Cubs on a chilly Wednesday night at Wrigley Field. The Rockies roared back with a five-run eighth to tie the game, but then faltered in the bottom of that inning to get swept in three games.

    “That was a tough trip,” manager Bud Black told reporters. “We didn’t pitch great, we didn’t swing the bats great. (That rally) was a good sign though.”

    Once again, subpar starting pitching was a factor, as right-hander Cal Quantrill gave up four runs through four innings. The bullpen wasn’t any better, and the Rockies head into their home opener on Friday against the Rays already in a hole.

    After setting the Cubs down in order in the first, Quantrill ran into trouble in the second inning as the Rockies went down 4-0.

    The frame started innocently enough with Christopher Morel’s infield single, but quickly snowballed. A pair of sacrifice flies plated two runs, then Seiya Suzuki brought home two more with a single to right before Charlie Blackmon got the Rockies out of the inning by gunning Suzuki at second base.

    After hard-throwing southpaw Luke Little served as the Cubs’ opener and went one-two-three in the first, Chicago brought on right-hander Ben Brown, who gave up one earned run over four innings.

    In the fifth, Suzuki dinged left-hander Jalen Beeks for a solo homer to extend the Cubs’ lead to 5-0.

    Jacob Stallings led off the sixth with a double, chasing Brown from the game, and Kris Bryant’s first hit of the season — a single to left — scored Stallings to get Colorado on the board. A Morel throwing throwing error led to another run to make it 5-2.

    But Chicago responded in the sixth by plating three runs off Tyler Kinley, as Kinley couldn’t make it out of the inning before being spelled by fellow right-hander Jake Bird. Michael Busch led off with a single off Kinley, then Nico Hoerner and Mike Tauchman both walked to load the bases.

    Miguel Amaya’s single then plated three runs, two off the hit and another off a throwing error by center fielder Brenton Doyle. Errors in the outfield have been a consistent theme through the Rockies’ early ugly stretch, a disappointment for a defense that was projected to be the strength of the team.

    Kyle Newman

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  • One area where Rockies could be elite this season? In the field: “We have a shot of being the best of the best”

    One area where Rockies could be elite this season? In the field: “We have a shot of being the best of the best”

    SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Chances are the Rockies’ record won’t glitter this season, but their defense should be golden.

    With Gold Glove winners in center field and at second base, Gold Glove finalists at shortstop and third, and potential sprinkled all around the field, Colorado should have one of the best defenses in the majors.

    “I think we have a good shot at being the best of the best,” said second baseman Brendan Rodgers, who won a Gold Glove in 2022.

    Manager Bud Black agrees.

    “If you love the complete game of baseball, and defense is a big part of that, you’ll like watching us,” he said. “Every night, there is a chance to see a legit great play from talented defenders.”

    The Rockies open their 2024 season Thursday night against the defending National League champion Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field. The first pitch is scheduled for 7:10 p.m. (8:10 p.m. MDT).

    Coming off a 103-loss season and having undergone only minor roster reconstruction during the offseason, the rebuilding Rockies are predicted by most pundits to have a sixth consecutive losing season and finish last in the National League West for a third straight year. Although the pitching might falter again, and offensive production remains a huge question mark, Colorado’s glovework could be “elite.”

    “We have guys who know how to pick it and throw it and ultimately play elite all-around defense,” said left-hander Kyle Freeland, who’ll start the season-opener.

    The Rockies’ words are not idle chatter around the batting cage.

    Center fielder Brenton Doyle, Colorado’s human highlight film, won a Gold Glove as a rookie last season. He finished with 19 defensive runs saved, the sixth-most among all position players and the most of any center fielder in the majors.

    Shortstop Ezequiel Tovar, who signed a seven-year, $65.3 million contract extension on Tuesday, was a Gold Glove finalist as a rookie last season. Third baseman Ryan McMahon has been a finalist for three years running, and his 17 defensive runs saved last season were the second-most among third basemen.

    Left fielder Nolan Jones, playing his first full season as an outfielder, led the majors and set a franchise record with 19 outfield assists, surpassing Dante Bichette’s mark of 17 in 1999. Jones finished fourth in National League Rookie of the Year voting.

    Patrick Saunders

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  • Rockies spring training recap: Prospect Yanquiel Fernandez shows off power, Jaden Hill throws 99.2 mph fastball

    Rockies spring training recap: Prospect Yanquiel Fernandez shows off power, Jaden Hill throws 99.2 mph fastball

    Diamondbacks 6, Rockies 2
    Saturday at Salt River Fields

    On the mound: Right-hander Noah Davis, competing for a spot in the back of the rotation, pitched two scoreless innings, allowing three hits, walking one and striking out three. Davis threw 40 pitches (with 23 strikes) while mixing in all five of his pitches. He said that his game plan going into his first Cactus League start was to work on all of his pitches — sinker, curve, cutter, slider and curveball. Manager Bud Black said he wants to see more pitch efficiency from Davis.  … Lefty prospect Joe Rock had a rough two innings, yielding five runs (four earned) on four hits, with one walk, one strikeout and a wild pitch that allowed a run to score. He’s pegged as a starter in the minors to begin the season.

    At the plate: Outfield prospect Yanquiel Fernandez, who boasts intriguing power, hit a 419-foot solo homer to right in the sixth inning off of lefty Andrew Saalfrank. Fernandez nearly hit another homer in the ninth but just got under the ball and lifted it to the right-field warning track.

    Injury update: Starting third baseman Ryan McMahon made a nice play by diving and throwing out a runner at second base in the third inning, but stayed on the ground for a couple of minutes after tweaking his lower back. He stayed in the game, however, and got another at-bat. “It was just a small spasm and I waited for it to calm down,” McMahon said. “It’s fine now.”

    Prospect watch: Right-hander Jaden Hill, who’s been converted from a starter to a reliever, threw a perfect seventh inning, striking out two. Hill’s hottest fastball was clocked at 99.2 mph.

    Rockies 5, A’s 1
    Saturday at Hohokam Stadium

    Peter Lambert (20) of the Colorado Rockies works against the the Oakland A’s during Colorado’s 5-1 Spring Training win at Hohokam Stadium in Mesa, Arizona on Saturday, Feb. 24, 2024. (Photo by AAron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post)

    On the mound: Right-hander Peter Lambert, the favorite to win the fifth spot in the rotation, pitched two scoreless innings, allowing no hits while walking two. … All told, seven Colorado pitchers combined to limit Oakland to three hits and two walks while striking out six.

    At the plate: Michael Toglia, trying to stake his claim in the crowded position battle at first base/right field, hit a solo homer off Osvaldo Bido in the fourth. … Outfield prospect Jimmy Herron had two hits and drove in two runs.

    Jimmy Herron dives towards second against the the Oakland A's during Colorado's 5-1 Spring Training win at Hohokam Stadium in Mesa, Arizona on Saturday, Feb. 24, 2024. (Photo by AAron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post)
    Jimmy Herron dives towards second against the the Oakland A’s during Colorado’s 5-1 Spring Training win at Hohokam Stadium in Mesa, Arizona on Saturday, Feb. 24, 2024. (Photo by AAron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post)

    Prospect watch: Infielder Aaron Schunk, who’s pegged to begin the season at Triple-A Albuquerque, hit 1-for-1 and scored a run.

    Up next: Rockies at Brewers, 1:10 p.m. Sunday

    Rockies probable pitchers: RHP Karl Kauffman, RHP Anthony Molina, RHP Justin Lawrence, RHP Chance Adams, RHP Riley Pint, RHP Matt Koch.

    Patrick Saunders

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