The Rockies hit the jackpot on a scorching Sunday afternoon in Las Vegas.
With temperatures reaching 105 degrees, the wind blowing out, and a high desert sky making every flyball an adventure, the Rockies walloped the A’s 23-9 at Las Vegas Ballpark.
The 23 runs scored set a franchise record, surpassing the previous high of 20, which had been done four times, most recently on July 24, 2024, vs. the Red Sox. The Rockies’ 24 hits were the second most in the club history, one short of the 25 they hit in a 19-3 win over the Astros at Houston on Sept. 25, 2011.
Colorado broke a three-game losing streak and avoided getting swept by the A’s.
Manager Warren Schaeffer was visibly angry after the Rockies lost 7-5 on Saturday night, saying, “It was sloppy baseball. That doesn’t play in this league.”
Sunday afternoon’s offensive explosion brought a different response.
“It was great,” Schaeffer told reporters in Las Vegas. “The boys came prepared to play today. They responded. It was good. Again, it’s just one of 162, but every day matters, and how you go about your business every day matters, and they did a great job today.”
The Rockies launched six home runs, including two each by leadoff hitter Willi Castro and catcher Hunter Goodman. In the seventh inning, TJ Rumfield turned a routine flyball to right field into a triple when Carlos Cortes couldn’t locate the ball. Rumfield tacked on a solo homer in the eighth.
“This is a very, very tough environment to play baseball in,” Schaeffer said. “Obviously, the ball flies — the thin air, the heat. The sun seemed to be right above the baseball field today. Just hard. It’s a hard place to play.”
Castro’s career day included a two-run blast in the second and a grand slam in the eighth. He drove in seven runs. The second baseman raised his average 12 points, from .266 to .278.
Goodman’s average soared from .236 to .250 thanks to his five-hit game. Goodman hit a two-run homer to center in the first, the ball flying over the swimming pool and landing 421 feet from home plate. Goodman’s solo homer to left in the fifth was jet-propelled, leaving his bat at 110.7 mph and traveling an estimated 453 feet. The catcher now has 20 home runs, with 13 of them coming on the road.
Goodman entered Sunday on a 0-for-14 slide that included 10 strikeouts, and he committed a costly error in a 6-4 loss to the A’s on Friday.
“There were two frustrating games here, for the team and obviously for me,” Goodman told Rockies.TV. “I honestly just went up there in my first at-bat trying to relax. That first at-bat, I told myself I was going to make myself see strikes.”
Third baseman Kyle Karros went 4 for 6 for the first four-hit game of his career and drove in two runs. Karros has found his swing and is evolving into the hitter Colorado envisioned during spring training. Over his last 19 games, he’s batting .362 (21 for 58) with five doubles, one triple, two home runs, and eight RBIs.
Colorado right-hander Tomoyuki Sugano picked up the victory to improve to 7-4, despite giving up eight runs on nine hits over five innings and seeing his ERA climb from 4.08 to 4.79. Then again, for anyone who took the mound on Sunday, the game was a matter of survival.
“I thought Sugano was fantastic today, honestly, in a very, very tough environment,” Schaeffer said. “He had a high pitch count in the first inning, but he grinded through and gave us five innings and he got the win. So, that’s resilience, and that’s a professional, hard at work out there in a very difficult environment.”
Pitching probables
Monday: Rockies RHP Michael Lorenzen (2-8, 7.54 ERA) at Cubs LHP Shota Imanaga (4-6, 4.44), 6:05 p.m.
Tuesday: Rockies RHP Ryan Feltner (2-2, 5.20) at Cubs RHP Edward Cabrera (4-3, 4.86), 6:05 p.m.
Wednesday: Rockies LHP Sean Sullivan (0-0, 0.00) at Cubs RHP Javier Assad (4-1, 3.99), 6:05 p.m.
Thursday: Off day
TV: Rockies.TV
Radio: KOA 850 AM/94.1 FM
