Here’s what we learned from this homestand as the Rockies hit the road for three games in Milwaukee, which sits in first place in the National League Central, and two games at San Diego.

Gabriel Hughes should get an extended look

After getting his first big-league start prior to the break, six innings of three-run ball at Dodger Stadium on July 8, Hughes made his first two career starts at Coors Field this homestand and looked solid. The rookie right-hander, whom the Rockies selected at No. 10 overall in 2022 and underwent Tommy John surgery in ’23, allowed two runs in five-plus innings against the Reds on July 17, followed by five innings of one-run ball on Wednesday against the Nationals.

For a franchise desperate for rotational depth, the Rockies need to keep Hughes in the rotation the rest of the year to see if the rookie can be part of the team’s long-term pitching solution.

“He’s pitching great,” Rockies manager Warren Schaeffer said. “He’s giving us a chance to win, attacking with his heater, throwing strikes, good body language, good poise, getting the breaking ball for punchouts, good changeup. He did it all (Wednesday) and gave us a really good shot to win this game.”

On Wednesday, Hughes battled through several key moments where his outing could’ve gone off the rails. His combination of a low-90s fastball, a mid-80s changeup and high-70s curveball was effective. He had five strikeouts, and his 18 K’s through the first three starts of his career are tied for the second-most in franchise history for a rookie.

“You get to 2-2 and 3-2, and that’s when you get (multiple) foul balls and suddenly you’re at an 8-, 9-pitch at-bat,” Hughes said. “That’s when you really find out what you’ve got and what you have in the tank. There was an 11-pitch at-bat in there. You’ve got to dig deep and get the out, and I was able to do that today.”

Rubber matches remain rough for Colorado

Following Wednesday’s 8-0 defeat that was highlighted by an ugly seventh inning in which the Nationals plated six runs and got help from a trio of errors by Mickey Moniak, Cole Carrigg and Brett Sullivan, Colorado dropped to 3-11 in rubber matches this season.

As those miscues underscored, the Rockies defense has been subpar this season. Entering Wednesday, the club had (62) in the NL. The Rockies’ .212 winning percentage in series-deciding games is the lowest in the majors, and in those missed clinchers, the Rockies have a -29 run differential. Wednesday’s seventh inning all but sealed the fate of the series, considering the Rockies are now 10-51 when behind after six innings.

“Sloppy, ridiculous, and the probably worst inning we’ve had all year defensively,” Schaeffer said of the seventh-inning meltdown. “That’s not us.”

Kyle Freeland’s recent trajectory

The Colorado native remains a Rockies workhorse, but the quality outings remain few and far between for a southpaw boasting a career-worst 7.28 ERA. Freeland has an MLB-leading nine losses, a year after pacing baseball with 17 losses.

In his outing against the Nationals on Monday, Freeland extended his streak of nine straight starts with at least five innings pitched. He allowed four runs over six innings while giving up two homers. The Thomas Jefferson alum was also at the center of with the Nationals’ Andres Chaparro, after Freeland chirped at Chaparro for going over the edge of the mound as the designated hitter jogged off the field following a flyout. Freeland doesn’t have good stuff this season, but he’s still got his signature fire.

Can Hunter Goodman set a Rockies record?

Home run machine Hunter Goodman picked up the second half right where he left off prior to the break and his second straight appearance in the Midsummer Classic.

The catcher blasted three homers in last Sunday’s 9-6 loss to the Reds, Goodman’s second time with three bombs this season as he also accomplished the feat on June 27 in Minnesota. With that, Goodman became the fourth Rockies player with multiple three-homer games in a career, joining Larry Walker, Todd Helton and Carlos González, and the fourth-fastest Colorado hitter to reach 30 homers in a season.

Goodman followed Sunday up with a go-ahead homer in the eighth inning on Tuesday in the 8-7 win over Washington, his third go-ahead homer in the eighth inning or later this season. Goodman’s 11 homers in the seventh inning or later lead the majors. The way Goodman is mashing, the Rockies’ single-season home run record — 49, by Walker in 1997 and Helton in 2001 — could be within reach.

“You don’t see very many catchers in the game doing what he’s doing,” outfielder Mickey Moniak said. “You’ve got Cal Raleigh, Hunter Goodman, William Contreras, Will Smith — that’s the top.”

Monitoring the bullpen’s performance

The Rockies’ bullpen was hit-and-miss during the 2-4 homestand.

For Colorado to avoid becoming the fifth franchise in MLB history to lose 100-plus games four seasons in a row, the bullpen will need to pitch better than the 4.87 ERA it possessed entering Wednesday’s finale. That mark ranks second-worst in the NL, better than only the Nationals (5.13).

On Wednesday, right-handers Jimmy Herget and Zach Agnos combined to yield seven runs (five earned) over three innings. And on a trade deadline note, right-hander Antonio Senzatela’s market value has fallen over the last month. He had a 1.36 ERA at the end of May, but has posted a 7.94 ERA across June and July. That includes giving up a two-run homer in one inning of work in Monday’s loss.

Herget, who has an 8.59 ERA in 8 games in July, was blunt in his assessment of his performance on Wednesday.

“I was absolutely terrible,” Herget said. “I’ve had some spots this year where I’ve been really, really good, but this run has been pretty brutal. The season’s a roller-coaster… We have very capable relievers, we’re just in a little rut right now.”

Either way, his heroics on Sunday in a 9-6 loss to the Reds, belting three towering home runs to center field and knocking in five runs, put him in a class of his own. He’s now the first player in franchise history with two three-homer games in a season. Goodman’s previous three-homer day came against the Twins in Minneapolis on June 27.

Goodman now has 30 homers on the season, trailing only the Phillies’ Kyle Schwarber (33) and the Astros’ Yordan Alvarez (31), both designated hitters.

It was Goodman’s 10th multi-homer game in just his fourth season in the bigs. His name keeps coming up in conversations with Rockies’ Hall of Famers Larry Walker and Todd Helton. Only three other Colorado players — Walker, Helton, and Carlos González — recorded multiple three-home-run games during their careers. Walker, who was inducted into Cooperstown in 2021, did it three times.

“It����ap definitely cool, knowing all the guys, the great players that played here,” Goodman said after the game.

“His body looks like it����ap flowing right. He looks dangerous. He just looks in sync,” Rockies manager Warren Schaeffer said. “You can see the confidence seep out of him.”

Coors Field’s official attendance on Sunday was 20,158, a number that looked inflated from a scan around the ballpark on a simmering hot day when most of the world was at home watching the World Cup final between Argentina and Spain.

Those who did show up were treated to a parade of bombs, with Reds catcher Tyler Stephenson whacking two, DH Nathaniel Lowe hitting a three-run blast in the first inning and Sal Stewart adding a three-run homer in the second to make it 8-1 Reds. The Rockies’ Willi Castro made it interesting in the ninth inning with a 435-foot solo blast.

Cincinnati’s Hunter Greene struck out seven over six innings to earn the win, despite giving up two homers to Goodman — a solo shot in the first inning, then a two-run blast in the sixth inning. Goodman’s final homer of the day, a two-run, 435-foot bomb off reliever Sam Moll in the eighth inning, pulled the Rockies to within four. But Castro’s solo shot off Emilio Pagán was the final salvo, after Pagan struck out two and got Edouard Julien to pop out in foul territory to end the game.

Stephenson recorded his third career multi-homer game — with two of them coming against the Rockies.

The Rockies fell to 40-61 with the loss, while the Reds improved to 45-53.

“Down big after two innings, it����ap really hard to come back, but we kept fighting,” Schaeffer said. “It����ap one series where we lost. We move on to the next one.”

The Rockies open a three-game series Monday against the Washington Nationals, with Kyle Freeland (2-8, 7.36) set to start.

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That����ap according to Brock Burke, the Reds’ best reliever this season, who finished up a weekend of work at Coors Field by pitching a scoreless seventh inning in a 9-6 Cincinnati win. Despite Hunter Goodman’s three home runs on Sunday, the Reds took the rubber match to open the second half of the season.

Burke, who starred at Evergreen High School before being selected by the Tampa Bay Rays in the third round of the 2014 draft, leads the National League in appearances (49) this season while allowing a hit or fewer in 42 of those outings. He threw a total of 20 pitches in two appearances against the Rockies, throwing 11 pitches and giving up one hit in the Reds’ 7-2 win on Friday. He induced two fly balls and a groundout in Sunday’s win.

For Burke and Reds relievers Pierce Johnson and Julian Garcia, the three-game series at Coors Field was a homecoming of sorts for all three former high school stars from the Centennial State.

It also underscored that pitchers who excel here can make it anywhere.

“You just battle adversity and learn how to pitch,” Burke said. “Your stuff doesn’t move … You kind of have to be perfect here to get the ball to move. It just teaches you to be very good in your mechanics. And the way you throw the ball.”

Garcia, who pitched for Metro State just minutes down the road, saw countless games at Coors Field growing up, but he had never been on the field as a player until Friday. His decade-long odyssey from Division II baseball to making his big-league debut with the Reds last month, at 31, after stints in independent ball and the Puerto Rican Winter League, would make for a great screenplay.

But it wasn’t until Saturday, when he gave up two hits in a little more than two innings of work in a 10-3 Rockies’ win, that Garcia fully comprehended just how hard it is to pitch in Colorado. That����ap when he got the breakdown of the 32 pitches he threw against the Rockies.

“In all those years I was at Metro, we didn’t have the TrackMan. We didn’t have the Rapsodo stuff or the reports to see all the movement profiles and stuff like that,” said Garcia, who starred at Fossil Ridge High School in Fort Collins. “Now, seeing it, and seeing your fastball, like in Cincinnati, or on the East Coast, where it����ap like 18-20 inches of vertical and then it����ap like yesterday, you’re looking at the board, and it����ap like 13 or 14 inches, it����ap crazy. There’s really no jump.”

Living pitch to pitch

Burke and Johnson, unlike Garcia, entered the weekend with plenty of experience on the mound at Coors Field. Johnson spent the first half of the 2023 season with the Rockies before being dealt to the Braves.

The right-hander, who starred at Faith Christian High School, put up his worst career numbers in Colorado, where he started the year as a closer with 13 saves. He was 1-5 with a 6.00 ERA in 43 games for the Rockies.

Burke was still a teenager at 19 when he signed with the Rays after being picked in the 2014 draft — the same year the Rockies selected Kyle Freeland, another homegrown star. One of the things that certainly got the attention of big-league scouts when Burke was in high school was a 20-strikeout outing against Eaglecrest at Coors Field.

The scorecard might say 19 K’s, but Burke insisted it was 20 — the result of a dropped third strike that the scorekeeper for MaxPreps missed. He remembers it just like yesterday, explaining that the Coors Field grounds crew wouldn’t let the high schoolers warm up in the bullpen, so he just walked into the game cold.

“I think I walked the first three guys and then struck out the next three,” he said, with a laugh. “That was the first time I touched the mound that day. No warmup.”

His success this season has been the result of going back to his roots as a pitcher. He’s been a name that has frequently surfaced in trade deadline chatter, given the market for left-handers and the Reds bringing up the rear in the NL Central race, 17 games back of the Brewers.

“I pitch kind of weird, and I think throughout my career, people have tried to change me,” Burke said. “Kinda me just getting back to my roots. Kind of just moving how I move and doing how I do. Just trying to think about competing every pitch and not worrying about how I’m moving or how I’m doing certain things. Kind of just live, pitch by pitch, and game by game.”

‘I wouldn’t want it any other way’

Garcia has been living by the same code, not letting himself get too high or too low about finally making it to The Show at 31 after years of coming so close.

He had an array of family members and friends attend all three games at Coors, and he relished the time at home during the All-Star break.

“It����ap been crazy. I don’t really have any words to describe it,” he said. “It����ap been a cool journey, and I’ve told everybody I wouldn’t want it any other way. Kinda had to work for it, but it����ap been everything I’d imagined. No words to describe it.”

He dealt with some nerves entering the series only because he didn’t want to get out on the mound and not perform for all of those who’d come out to see him.

“Just the build-up of it all,” he said. “I just tried to relax and see family and enjoy it, but it was like, OK, I’m pitching in front of all my friends and family. It����ap kind of like, I don’t wanna go out there and make an idiot of myself. I want to prove that I’m good. I’m supposed to be here. And make them even more proud.”

Since making the jump to the big leagues on June 23, Garcia ranks tied for fifth among all National League relief pitchers with 13 strikeouts. He is the second Reds pitcher since 1900 with more than 13 strikeouts and no more than five hits allowed through his first eight career games.

There were plenty of times over the last decade when he seriously considered walking away from baseball, especially after the Phillies — who’d drafted him in 2016 — released him in 2023. But he always came back to the one thing he had wanted to accomplish since elementary school.

“That (2023) year, I was mentally checked out from baseball,” he said. “Baseball just wasn’t treating me very well and I wasn’t in love with the game anymore. But it����ap what I set out to do. I show pictures to my girlfriend all the time when I was a young kid, and you’re in elementary school, they’re like, ‘What do you want to do when you grow up?’ I wanted to be a professional baseball player.

“… I didn’t want to give up. But there were times when it was like, this is tough. This is hard. I don’t know what I’m going to do; I need to provide for my family. I need to grow up.”

The game of baseball works in mysterious ways. After making it back to affiliated baseball and working his way through the minors, Garcia has run down the dream he’s been chasing since he was a young fireballer growing up in northern Colorado.

He doesn’t have to grow up just yet.

“Baseball, I knew I was good at it,” he said. “There’s nothing like it. I’ve been so close. Like, I was in Triple-A; I’ve been around guys, and I was like, OK, I’m as good as them, if not better. And I can get there. It was just putting my head down and trying to get back to here.”

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Tyler Stephenson went deep twice, Hunter Greene struck out seven over six innings and the Cincinnati Reds weathered a three-homer afternoon from Hunter Goodman to beat 9-6 on Sunday.

It was the third career multi-homer game for Stephenson — two of them against the Rockies. He also had a double. The Reds’ catcher is batting .357 in 23 games versus Colorado, with nine homers, 17 RBIs and nine doubles.

Goodman’s big day included two homers off Greene — a solo shot in the first and a two-run blast in the sixth — along with another two-run shot off reliever Sam Moll in the eighth to make it 9-5. He also hit three homers at . The All-Star catcher is the first Rockies players to notch two three-homer games in the same season.

The Reds’ offense heated up quick on a sweltering afternoon (98 degrees Fahrenheit, 37 Celsius) at Coors Field. Nathaniel Lowe hit a two-out, three-run homer off Ryan Feltner (3-4) in the first and Stephenson soon followed with a two-run shot.

They made it 8-1 in the second on a three-run homer from Sal Stewart.

Greene (2-1) allowed three runs in his third start since returning from the injured list on July 4. He was sidelined after undergoing surgery in March to remove bone chips from his right elbow.

Colorado rallied in the ninth as Willi Castro led off the inning with a homer off Emilio Pagán. After a single from Kyle Karros, Pagán struck out two and got Edouard Julien to pop out in foul territory to end the game as the Reds took two of three in the series.

Up next

Reds: Kick off a three-game set in Seattle on Monday. Lefty Andrew Abbott (5-5, 4.11) will take the mound for the Reds.

Rockies: Start a three-game series Monday against Washington. The Rockies are slated to send lefty Kyle Freeland (2-8, 7.36) to the mound.

Avoid four straight 100-loss seasons

Only four MLB franchises have lost 100-plus games four seasons in a row, and it would be an important moral victory for the Rockies to avoid joining this dubious club that features the Boston Doves/Braves (current Atlanta Braves) from 1909-12, the Phillies (who hold the record with five consecutive from 1938-42), the Washington Senators (current Rangers) from 1961-64, and the New York Mets from 1962-65.

At 39-59 (.398) entering Friday, the Rockies need to go 24-40 (.375) to finish 63-99.

To finish with 99 losses would be a huge leap from last year’s historically inept 119-toss campaign. It would also be an obvious sign that Colorado’s first-year front office, led by president of baseball operations Paul DePodesta and general manager Josh Byrnes, has some traction.

Can the 2027 Rockies be the White Sox, who are in first place in the AL Central this season, two years after setting a modern record with 121 losses? Probably not, considering the Rockies’ division is much tougher, but look at what Chicago did last season. The White Sox cut their defeats by 19 to 102. They let young talent flourish while adding some big names around them, i.e., signing all-star first baseman Munetaka Murakami this year.

Make impactful trade-deadline moves

The Rockies need to start winning the trade deadline and break the habits under past GMs Bill Schmidt and Jeff Bridich that simply weren’t working — no matter if Colorado was a buyer or a seller. This year’s deadline is August 3.

A quick recent history lesson of Colorado trade deadlines gone wrong: Recall how Schmidt didn’t move Elias Diaz at the 2023 trade deadline, when the catcher’s market value peaked with his All-Star selection and subsequent MVP in the Midsummer Classic. Instead, the Rockies hung onto Diaz into 2024, didn’t trade him again, and then released him that August and got nothing for him.

Even when the Rockies made an aggressive selling move last season, sending third baseman Ryan McMahon in exchange for minor-league pitchers Griffin Herring and Josh Grosz, that was an empty trade for Colorado until DePodesta salvaged it with a deft deal in January. Herring has an 8.06 ERA in Hartford this year, and Grosz was dealt to the Diamondbacks in an offseason trade that brought outfielder Jake McCarthy to Colorado.

Going back even further, the Rockies’ trade-deadline record is mediocre at best.

See: Not trading shortstop Trevor Story at the 2021 deadline (Story declined Colorado’s qualifying offer that offseason, and the Rockies got a comp pick for that, which they used on recently-debuted outfielder Sterlin Thompson). And in 2017 and ’18, the Rockies didn’t do enough to bolster playoff teams. That was especially true in ’18, when Colorado had its first division title within its sights, but its only significant deal was for right-handed reliever Seunghwan Oh with the Blue Jays. Oh was a valuable bullpen piece, but the Rockies needed more.

So this deadline, it’s clear Colorado needs to sell high on both right-hander Antonio Senzatela (who has a club option next season) and outfielder Mickey Moniak (under club control through 2027).

Senzatela has been the Rockies’ best bullpen arm this season, with a 3.31 ERA in 30 appearances and 1.4 WAR; after being converted from a starter, his market value has never been �󾱲�������and will probably come back down to earth next season. As for Moniak, he’s having another solid season, batting .278 with 15 homers, and in a crowded Colorado outfield, it’s hard to see the 28-year-old in Colorado’s long-term rebuilding plans.

DePodesta should also field offers for the team’s two veteran starters who could bring return value in the form of controllable minor-league arms. Those two possibilities are right-handers Michael Lorenzen (who has a club option for 2027 that includes a $250,000 buyout) and Tomoyuki Sugano (who is on a one-year deal; he’s currently on the IL for a back spasm issue that Rockies manager Warren Schaeffer said isn’t serious).

Decide on a starting pitching plan for 2027

Speaking of starting pitching, Colorado should use the trade deadline and the second half to narrow its focus on a blueprint to address the team’s Achilles heel going forward. The Rockies must identify which current rotational arms could be options for the future, and who in the minors could realistically be projected to step up and fill gaps over the next couple of seasons.

Ryan Feltner, who is under club control for two more seasons and has a 4.55 ERA in 13 starts in 2026, is a safe bet to be part of the rotation again in 2027. Prized young pitcher Chase Dollander, whose 2026 season was ended by on his right elbow last month, is in the club’s future plans. But it’s unlikely he’ll be ready for a full starter’s workload in 2027.

Beyond those two, there are many questions and very few answers.

Longtime rotational mainstay Kyle Freeland has a 7.36 ERA in 17 starts; he has a that vests with 170 innings pitched this year. He’s currently at 88 innings and has only hit 170 innings once in his career, in 2022. The Colorado kid’s time in LoDo could be in its final chapter.

The second half will be a good chance for Colorado to evaluate some unproven arms — especially 2022 first-round pick Gabriel Hughes, and possibly southpaw Sean Sullivan, who is currently back in Triple-A — while formulating a rotational plan for 2027.

There’s not a ton of help on the immediate horizon on the farm, so DePodesta will have to get creative to continue to fill in the starting pitching gaps. Bringing back Lorenzen, who has trade value as discussed above, and signing a veteran or two off the scrap heap could be the course. While there are glimmers of light at the end of the tunnel in every other facet of the club, starting pitching depth remains the central issue that the Rockies must solve.

Figure out if Ezequiel Tovar is in the long-term plans

Ezequiel Tovar signed a at the end of spring training in 2024 and immediately made that deal look like a bargain for Colorado. That season, Tovar won his first Gold Glove Award and accumulated 3.4 WAR while hitting .269 with 26 homers and an NL-best 45 doubles.

But over the past two seasons, the falloff has been steep and undeniable, especially on offense.

Tovar had an injury-riddled 2025, limiting him to 95 games while sapping his power and diminishing his defensive wizardry. His hitting this season has been bad — he’s accumulated -0.7 bWAR while batting just .200 with eight homers in the first half. His bat at home, where he’s hitting .190 at Coors Field, has been especially concerning.

The Rockies’ next-in-line at shortstop, No. 1 prospect Ethan Holliday, was showing promise in his first full season of pro ball with Low-A Fresno. But a stress fracture in his left foot Drafted out of high school at No. 4 overall, Holliday is still several years away from the big leagues. Colorado also just used its most recent first-round pick this year on another shortstop, Kentucky switch-hitter Tyler Bell at No. 10 overall, though Bell is projected as a player who could change positions.

Colorado’s only other shortstop option on the 40-man roster is Ryan Ritter, who is currently in Triple-A.

So what will the Rockies do, considering Tovar has five more years left on his deal? They’ve been patient so far, but Tovar’s lack of production should make his role a talking point internally going forward.

… and same question with Brenton Doyle

The Rockies have also seen an alarming drop-off from center fielder Brenton Doyle.

Like Tovar, Doyle has also been sub-replacement level this season with -0.4 bWAR. Doyle, who won consecutive Gold Glove Awards in 2023 and ’24, is under club control for three more seasons. After slugging 23 homers with a .260 average in ’24, he regressed last season before nosediving in this one. Slowed by injuries in 2026 — he’s been on the injured list with an oblique contusion for almost two months — he’s batting just .207 with one homer in 43 games.

This season has been nothing short of a disaster for Doyle, and the production of Jake McCarthy (batting .301) as well as the arrival of promising rookie Cole Carrigg has created the possibility that Doyle is now expendable in center field.

SAN FRANCISCO — Tyler Mahle won for the first time since mid-April, Casey Schmitt hit a tiebreaking three-run homer in the sixth inning and the San Francisco Giants beat the Colorado Rockies 4-2 on Saturday.

Mahle (2-8) allowed one run, five hits and three walks over seven innings. The 31-year-old right-hander had been 0-5 in nine starts since beating the Los Angeles Dodgers on April 22. He has a 3.00 ERA in eight starts at home and an 8.45 ERA in seven road outings.

JT Brubaker finished the six-hitter for his first professional save, allowing Kyle Karros’ eighth-inning homer.

San Francisco has won 20 of its last 22 home game against Colorado and 35 of 42 since 2021.

With the score 1-1, Heliot Ramos and Luis Arraez singled off Kyle Freeland (2-8) starting the sixth and Schmitt followed with his 19th homer.

Brett Sullivan doubled starting the third and scored on a balk by Mahle. Giants manager Tony Vitello came out to argue the call and was ejected by plate umpire Lance Barksdale, the second ejection this season for the first-year skipper.

San Francisco tied the score in the fifth on doubles by Bryce Eldridge and Jesús Rodríguez.

Up next

Colorado RHP Michael Lorenzen (3-9, 6.46) faces San Francisco RHP Trevor McDonald (3-7, 5.46) on Sunday.

SAN FRANCISCO — Kyle Karros hit a broken-bat, two-run single during a three-run ninth inning and the Colorado Rockies held on to beat the San Francisco Giants 4-3 on Friday night.

The Rockies trailed 2-1 when Mickey Moniak opened the ninth with a single off Caleb Kilian (2-5), who then walked pinch-hitter Troy Johnston.

Jake McCarthy followed with a bunt single to load the bases, setting up Karros for a base hit to center that brought home Moniak and Johnston. McCarthy moved to third and Kilian departed in favor of lefty Erik Miller.

Cole Carrigg greeted Miller with a sacrifice fly to left to bring home McCarthy and make it 4-2.

In the bottom of the ninth, the Giants got a sacrifice fly from Rafael Devers off Jordan Romano to make it 4-3. Romano then walked Willy Adames to load the bases with two outs.

Juan Mejia replaced Romano and got Bryce Eldridge to ground out to second to end the game. Mejia earned his fourth save.

Antonio Senzatela (9-1) worked a perfect eighth inning to pick up the win.

Devers drove in all of the Giants’ runs.

San Francisco grabbed a 1-0 lead in the second when Devers took Tanner Gordon deep to right. It was Devers’ 19th home run of the season. He hit two off Gordon in the Rockies’ 7-6 win over the Giants in Denver on Sunday.

Devers gave the Giants a 2-1 lead with an RBI single with two outs in the seventh.

The Rockies tied it 1-1 in the fifth on consecutive two-out doubles by Ezequiel Tovar and McCarthy.

The Giants had won in each of starter Robbie Ray’s previous eight outings and had won 19 of their previous 20 home games against Colorado.

Up next

Colorado LHP Kyle Freeland (2-7, 7.46 ERA) faces San Francisco RHP Tyler Mahle (1-8, 5.70) on Saturday.

The 471-foot shot off Dylan Smith’s fastball was Karros’ seventh home run of the season and the longest of his career.

With Karros’ homer, the Rockies have 122 runs in the eighth inning or later this season, the highest mark in the majors.

471 FEET KYLE KARROS YOU BEAUTY

— Colorado Rockies (@Rockies)

TJ Rumfield had three hits, including his 20th double of the season, and scored twice for Colorado. He has 94 hits, the most by a Colorado rookie before the All-Star Break in franchise history.

Hunter Goodman and Troy Johnston added an RBI apiece for Colorado, which won its ninth series of the season, surpassing its total from the entire 2025 season.

Victor Vodnik (3-3) picked up the win after throwing a shutout eighth inning while Smith (0-1) took the loss. Jordan Romano got his fifth save, striking out Willy Adames swinging with two outs and a runner on second.

Rafael Devers hit his team-leading 17th and 18th home runs for San Francisco. Casey Schmitt and Drew Gilbert also homered for the Giants.

Up next

• Rockies LHP Kyle Freeland (2-7, 7.25) was scheduled in Los Angeles on Monday night against Dodgers LHP Eric Lauer (3-0, 2.88).
• Giants RHP Landen Roupp (5-8, 4.55) was set to oppose Toronto RHP Kevin Gausman (4-7, 4.19) in San Francisco on Monday night.

The Marlins, who have the second-lowest payroll in MLB, have outscored opponents 133-80 in June, their best calendar month in franchise history. They are also the first team in MLB to win 20 games in a month this year.

Sanoja broke the game open in the third with his 419-foot shot to left-center field to extend Miami’s lead to 5-1. The Marlins then rattled off a three-run sixth inning behind RBI singles from Kyle Stowers, Griffin Conine and Xavier Edwards before Mack launched his fifth-career homer to right field in the seventh.

Caissie sent his 10th home run of the season 453 feet over the right-field wall in the eighth, and Stowers capped the scoring with a two-run double in the ninth. The Marlins set new season highs in runs and hits.

Conine scored the game’s first run with an RBI double in the first, and Leo Jiménez tacked on a one-run single in the second for a 2-1 lead. Conine finished 4 for 5 at the plate, marking the first four-hit game of his career.

Eury Pérez (4-6) gave up one run on two hits while striking out eight for Miami in 5 1/3 innings.

Tanner Gordon (0-2) surrendered five runs on nine hits in five innings. He struck out four.

Mickey Moniak plated the Rockies’ first run with a solo homer in the bottom of the first inning. Jake McCarthy hit an RBI single in the seventh and Ezequiel Tovar plated the Rockies’ final run with an RBI double.

Up next

Miami RHP Max Meyer (9-0, 2.60 ERA) faces off against Colorado LHP Kyle Freeland (1-7, 7.50) in the series finale on Wednesday.

In the eighth inning of the Rockies’ stirring, 8-6 comeback win over the Red Sox on Wednesday, rookie center fielder Cole Carrigg looped a hit to right-center, turned on the jets as he rounded first, lost his batting helmet, lost his shin guard, and tore his pants sliding into second with an RBI double.

He got the Coors Field crowd of 27,399 on its feet and buzzing.

“You know that about Cole coming in, that he’s not scared of anything,” manager Warren Schaeffer said. “It’s all about the mentality to compete, and he’s got it.”

But not just Carrigg. The Rockies used a cast of heroes to come back from a 6-3 deficit and score three runs in the seventh and two more in the eighth to win the game and capture the three-game series.

Colorado won its eighth series of the season. During last year’s 119-loss fiasco, the Rockies won just two series before the All-Star Game and eight series the entire season.

Carrigg, who extended his on-base streak to nine games, drove in three runs. Across the first 14 games of his career, he’s slashing .271/.379/.542 with a .921 OPS, three home runs, two doubles, and 11 RBIs.

The confident Carrigg has been undaunted by big-league pressure.

“I think it goes, ultimately, to just competing,” he said. “I’ve played baseball to compete my whole life, and I believe what it takes to play here and play well here.”

Colorado’s comeback began in the seventh when catcher Hunter Goodman reached on a two-out error by shortstop Andruw Monasterio. Enter Carrigg, who blooped an RBI single to left, followed by Jake McCarthy’s single through the right side of the infield.

Left-handed hitting Troy Johnson tied the game, 6-6, with a pinch-hit single against lefty reliever Danny Coulombe.

“With Troy coming off the bench like that, left on left, and coming through, was huge,” Schaeffer said.

Colorado used more team baseball in the ninth to win the game. Mickey Moniak led off with a pinch-hit single, followed by another single by Willi Castro. Tyler’s safety-squeeze bunt pushed across Moniak for the go-ahead run, and Carrigg’s double finished off the comeback.

“I think any manager wants that,” Schaeffer said when asked about the team baseball.  “Our boys just never quit. We know that when the seventh inning rolls around, and we are down, something is bound to happen — with us. We just feel it every (game) and we showed it the whole homestand.”

The Rockies went 4-2 on the homestand against the Pirates and the Red Sox, winning three games by one run.

“The guys, especially the young guys, are learning that we play 27 outs for a reason and you can’t take any out for granted,” veteran starter Kyle Freeland said after he endured a tough day at the ballpark. “When you get in a situation with runners on, late in the game, you want to be that guy, standing in the box and getting the big hit. Guys are learning that, and they want to be part of those big spots.”

Freeland, however, continues to ride a teeter-totter. And the Rockies’ starting pitching continues to be the club’s Achilles’ heel. Colorado has a 5.92 starter’s ERA.

In his last outing, Freeland pitched a gem, going 7 1/3 innings and giving up two runs on four hits.

But the BoSox battered him for six runs on 11 hits in six innings on Wednesday. Connor Wong hit a two-run homer to left in the second inning, and Andruw Monasterio hit a one-out solo shot in the fourth. Freeland, who’s in the final year of his contract, has a 7.50 ERA, the highest in the majors (minimum 50 innings pitched).

But Schaeffer commended Freeland for keeping Colorado in the game.

“Honestly, that’s the name of the game here at Coors — to hang with it, and stick with it when things don’t go your way,” Schaeffer said. ” ‘Free’ competed today, I thought. They hit a lot of balls hard, and he attacked the strike zone.

“He had some things that didn’t go his way, for sure, but at the end of the day, he gave us six innings, and we were still in the ballgame. You can pretty much count on ‘Free’ to do that every time out.”

Pitching probables

Thursday: Off day
Friday: Rockies RHP Tomoyuki Sugano (8-4, 4.31) at Twins TBA, 6:10 p.m.
Saturday: Rockies RHP Michael Lorenzen (2-9, 7.11) at Twins TBA, 5:10 p.m.
Sunday: Rockies RHP Ryan Feltner (2-2, 4.79) at Twins TBA, 12:10 p.m.
TV: Rockies.TV
Radio: KOA 850 AM/94.1 FM