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.”

In a 10-3 blowout over the Reds, Colorado scored four runs on five consecutive knocks with two outs. The new faces brought to the lineup by president of baseball operations Paul DePodesta and general manager Josh Byrnes were central in the hit brigade.

Jake McCarthy got it going with a bunt single. Then Mickey Moniak, a solid signing by the Rockies’ previous administration, singled. Dynamic rookie Cole Carrigg singled. Then DePodesta acquisitions TJ Rumfield and Willi Castro both singled, before fellow Colorado newcomer Troy Johnston lined out into the shift up the middle to end the frame.

That sequence underscored how four of those players — the left-handed hitting McCarthy, Rumfield and Johnston, plus the switch-hitting Castro — have been key in Colorado’s offensive turnaround. The unit has gone from one of MLB’s worst in 2025 to one of the league’s best in ’26. And that quartet, who are all turning in strong seasons, signals the philosophy behind DePodesta’s long-term lineup-building strategy.

“Probably what it shows is our flexibility of thought in terms of what a good player can look like for us,” DePodesta said. “Those guys aren’t all out of the same cloth. Jake is an outfielder with terrific range, well above-average speed. He can impact the game in a lot of different ways, can play the small-ball game, can steal bases. He’ll also hit some homers.

“TJ and Troy are both, to some degree, magicians with the barrel. They can find ways to get hits. They hit good pitching. And TJ in particular has shown himself to be an excellent defensive first baseman. They can both hit for power. And for Willie, a lot of his value doesn’t necessarily show up in the stat sheet, because his dependability provides an incredible amount of roster flexibility for us.”

All four players were either cast off or overlooked last offseason, enabling the Rockies to bring them into their fold.

The Rockies claimed Johnston off waivers in early November, a couple days before DePodesta was hired. Colorado director of baseball operations pulled off the move, but DePodesta was consulted on it.

The other three players all came to Colorado in January.

The Rockies in exchange for one of the minor-league pitching prospects, Josh Grosz, the club got in last summer’s deadline deal that sent Ryan McMahon to the Yankees. And the Rockies in exchange for an unproven bullpen arm, Angel Chivilli, who has only appeared in eight big-league games this year. As for Castro, Colorado to a two-year, $12.8 million deal after the 2024 All-Star had a down year split between the Twins and Cubs.

Johnston says finding value in players that other teams are willing to discard will be a key factor in Colorado’s attempted turnaround.

“If you’re not going to go out and sign a $60 million guy, then you’ve got to make a way to find the undervalued guys that really put together a lineup and put together consistently good at-bats,” Johnston said. “DePodesta and this front office are valuing so many key things when bringing in guys like me (and McCarthy, Rumfield and Castro).

“They’re valuing (expected weighted on-base average). They’re valuing chase rate. They’re valuing all the advanced stats that goes into the seasons that you’re seeing (these key newcomers) are having.”

Dramatic turnaround at first

Rumfield has been Colorado’s best player by bWAR this season (2.6 entering Tuesday, just ahead of catcher Hunter Goodman’s 2.4) while emerging as a National League Rookie of the Year candidate.

After easily winning the vacant first base job in spring training, Rumfield carried that momentum into the season and is coming off honors in May and June. He’s hitting .296 with a .476 slugging (both first among qualified NL rookies), plus 13 homers, 51 RBIs and a club-high 28 multi-hit games. He’s also been strong defensively, ranking in the 88th percentile in outs above average at first.

Compare that to the nightmare season the Rockies got from the position last year via Michael Toglia, who hit .190 while striking out at a 39.2% clip. By non-tendering Toglia and trading for Rumfield, DePodesta sent a clear message that the Rockies need to move away from the egregious strikeout rates that plagued them the last three 100-loss seasons and towards contact hitters. This year, Rumfield’s K rate is 14.5%.

“One of the biggest things is that (DePodesta and Byrnes) don’t hire people to change,” Johnston said. “They want players they bring in to have a lot of success doing whatever they do well. That’s what they tell a lot of the guys: ‘We need guys that can drive in runs, that can move the bases, walk.’ They really focused on walking, cutting down on strikeouts, and just hard contact.

“With TJ, one of the most interesting parts about him is that he always stays within himself. He knows exactly who he is as a hitter.”

Rumfield says he’s not paying attention to the Rookie of the Year race, in which he is a dark horse behind the top candidates, Cardinals second baseman JJ Wetherholt and Reds corner infielder Sal Stewart.

But he looks around the Rockies clubhouse and sees a lot of young talent, many of whom are new to the team this season, that he thinks can help accelerate Colorado’s turnaround from last year’s historic 119-loss season.

“We’re building a good culture of young players, and that’s what the foundation of a good franchise is going to be,” Rumfield said. “It’s about having guys who are hungry. Like DePodesta said in spring training, you’ve got to have guys who can excel at the big-league level and not just be here. We have those guys in the clubhouse, and if you get enough of them, you start to put together the wins and play better baseball.”

‘A scrappy offense’

In the outfield, McCarthy has picked up the slack of Brenton Doyle (hitting .207 and hampered by injuries) and Jordan Beck (suffered a hamstring injury in May, and has been in Triple-A since late June after hitting .183).

McCarthy leads the Rockies , ranking fourth in the NL, and is one of three players in the majors with an average over .300 and slugging over .500. He is also first in the NL with a .392 average with runners in scoring position, is one of MLB’s fastest players and has been a solid defender in all three outfield spots.

He says his goal since coming to Colorado via trade is to “make Paul and Josh look super smart,” which he’s done so far. He also understands the assignment: Put the ball in play, use his speed (he leads the club with 17 steals, and his six bunt hits are tied for fourth in the majors) and limit the K’s (17.0% strikeout rate).

“I’m not trying to have weak contact, but I would rather hit a weak ground ball than strikeout just because there’s always an opportunity for an infield hit,” McCarthy said. “I understand we want to be a scrappy offense. I’m part of that. I feel like the Brewers are a good example of that. That (approach) wears on you as a defense.

“You combine that with the Coors Field element, and it’s how we can make an offensive identity.”

Meanwhile, Johnston is hitting .295. While McCarthy has bucked the norm by raking against lefties (.360) and Rumfield is hitting .311 against righties, Johnston is hitting .326 against righties. And Castro, who is hitting .264 this year, has played all four infield positions plus right field and center field as the team’s premier utility player.

DePodesta explains that Castro’s versatility has enabled other players to “carve out their niche.”

“Having him on this team is very instrumental for Kyle Karros, for TJ Rumfield, for Troy Johnston, for all those guys to get the opportunities they got to show what they can do at this level,” DePodesta said. “Willi gave us the ability to construct our team in a lot of different ways and to provide opportunities to young players (because he can play all the positions they play).”

As the Rockies aim to avoid becoming the fifth MLB team to lose 100 or more games four seasons in a row, manager Warren Schaeffer believes DePodesta’s additions to complement key returners such as Moniak (.276 average) and Hunter Goodman (30 homers) have already changed the lineup’s mentality.

“This offensive group is a group you want to go to battle with every night, and that’s what Paul wants, that’s what (Byrnes) wants,” Schaeffer said. “Guys that are a tough at-bat every at-bat, 27 outs, all night long, not giving anything away. We have a lineup full of those guys who typify that.

“The second inning (last Saturday showed)… we don’t have to hit (a bunch of) homers — just put the ball in play, and good things will happen in this ballpark.”

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Wetherholt, the Cardinals’ All-Star second baseman, is the clear favorite to win National League Rookie of the Year. But Rumfield continues to make his presence felt in the race after the first baseman notched a career-high four-hit day in Saturday’s 10-3 rout of the Reds at Coors Field.

“TJ’s making a very strong case for that (award), but he’s got another 62 games to go,” Rockies manager Warren Schaeffer deadpanned. “So no let up.”

Rumfield remains an 18-1 longshot to win the award, according to the but the fact remains that he’s been one of the Rockies’ best players this year. He’s made first-year president of baseball operations Paul DePodesta look “Moneyball” good, after DePodesta acquired Rumfield from the Yankees in January in exchange for middling reliever Angel Chivilli.

Rumfield quickly asserted himself with the club, winning the Abby Greer Award as Colorado’s spring training MVP while easily claiming the vacant first base job. He was NL Rookie of the Month in both May and June, the first player in franchise history to win that award in consecutive months.

Entering Saturday, among NL rookies who have played at least 80 games, here’s how Rumfield stacks up against the rest of the league’s rookies and Weatherholt specifically.

• 1st in average (.295) … Weatherholt .262
• 1st in on-base percentage (.379) … Weatherholt .359
• 1st in OPS (.851) … Weatherholt .768
• 1st in wOBA (.373) … Weatherholt .342
• 1st in wRC (64) … Weatherholt 57
• 2nd in bWAR (2.4) … Weatherholt 4.0
• 2nd in slugging (.472) … Weatherholt .408
• 3rd in homers (12) … Weatherholt 14
• 3rd in RBIs (47) … Weatherholt 37
• 3rd in walks (40) … Weatherholt 41

The first baseman opened his career day on Saturday with an RBI single to center in the first inning to make it 2-0. Then, Rumfield had another RBI single in the second off Rhett Lowder, pushing the score to 5-0. He led off the fourth with another single, this time off Metropolitan State University of Denver alum Julian Garcia.

Then came the moonshot in the sixth, a two-run, 456-foot homer off Caleb Ferguson that solidified the skunking by making it 10-2. It was Rumfield’s longest career homer and gave him a career-high 4 RBIs.

“That’s a tough matchup with Ferguson, left-on-left, but TJ’s just a great hitter,” outfielder Jake McCarthy said. “He shoots balls the other way with two strikes, and then when he wants to do damage, he can do that.”

Rumfield also had a web gem in the win, snaring a sharp one-hop grounder down the line with a slick backhand play to get Edwin Arroyo out. Rumfield, who said he isn’t paying attention to where he stands in the Rookie of the Year race, downplayed his big day.

“It’s a cool day to have individually, but collectively, I feel like this is one of the best baseball games we’ve played as a whole,” Rumfield said.

Meanwhile, Reds third baseman Sal Stewart — the first Cincinnati rookie to make the All-Star Game , and the top Vegas challenger to Weatherholt’s award candidacy — was 0 for 4 with a strikeout as his average dropped to .254.

Also of note in Saturday’s victory, Tomoyuki Sugano returned from a brief stint on the injured list (back spasms) with a quality start to complement Colorado’s offense. The Japanese starter spun six-plus innings, allowing three runs on six hits with three strikeouts and no walks. Cincinnati’s biggest damage came off a pair of solo homers by catcher Jose Trevino in the third and fifth as Sugano became the first Rockies pitcher to record a winning decision in four straight Coors Field starts since Jon Gray in 2021.

“I saw excellent fastball command, strong velo (topping at 93.6), and the splitter was really good,” Schaeffer said. “He gave us just what we needed today. It was typical Tomoyuki Sugano stuff.”

The early returns on Gabriel Hughes’ first two big-league starts are promising as Colorado looks to solve its startling lack of starting pitching depth. The rookie right-hander debuted with three scoreless innings of relief against the Giants on July 3, then followed that with a quality start at the Dodgers on July 8 and five-plus innings of two run ball against the Reds on Friday at Coors Field.

Hughes’ 13 strikeouts are tied for the second-most Ks by a Colorado pitcher through his first two career starts, and Rockies manager Warren Schaeffer likes what he sees so far.

“I thought Gabe for a second big-league start could show it all,” Schaeffer said following Friday’s outing. “We’re seeing that he has a really good fastball movement-wise, and he attacks strength zone with that.

“… There’s a lot to love there with how he carries himself. It’s a really difficult environment when you first get to the big leagues and you’re making your first two starts after putting in a lot of time in the minor leagues. So for him to show the confidence out there in the mound, it’s a big deal.”

Hughes’ arrival in the majors came following a bumpy road in the minors after he was drafted No. 10 overall out of Gonzaga in 2022.

He had Tommy John surgery in 2023, then returned to the mound for the Arizona Fall League in 2024, but didn’t pitch well there with a 8.31 ERA over six starts. But he looked good in Double-A last season in Hartford, with a 3.07 ERA in nine games to earn a promotion to Triple-A Albuquerque.

Hughes’ fastball average is 93.1 mph, a drop-off from high-90s pre-surgery levels, but he’s making up for that lack of heat with 6.9 feet of extension from the rubber, which is 88th percentile in the majors. That can make his fastball appear faster, and his ability to manipulate fastball movement (Hughes averages 9.7 inches of induced vertical movement on the pitch) is helping him limit barrels (only 2.7%) through his small MLB sample size.

“Being able to understand where I’m at right now, and maximizing that instead of pining for where I was three or four years ago, is important,” Hughes said. “It’s a daily struggle, wanting to have that pre-surgery form… but it’s forced me to become a much better pitcher in other ways — in developing offspeed pitches and attacking the zone. I’m really thankful for the struggles I had to go through.”

The mid-game tinkering Hughes has been able to make so far with his top offspeed pitches, the sweeper and slider, has been promising.

“I’m getting a better idea (on how the sweeper works at Coors Field),” Hughes said. “Being able to make the adjustment quicker… and being able to come back with that pitch effectively (on Friday), even though I’d missed with it earlier, was a really good sign.”

Since the start of the 2023 season — as the Rockies have accumulated more losses than any other franchise — the club has attempted to fill in its rotation with C-list veterans due to its dearth of homegrown big-league starters. This year, that meant signing Michael Lorenzen, Tomoyuki Sugano and Jose Quintana. Other notable recent Colorado starters that fit this description were Cal Quantrill and Dakota Hudson in ’24, and Chase Anderson and Chris Flexen in ’23.

Filling in significant gaps in the rotation with scrap-heap free agents isn’t a long-term strategy for success, which is why Hughes’ potential is all the more important going forward. If he can be an effective big-league starter — and if Chase Dollander can live up to ace expectations in his return from this year’s season-ending elbow surgery — that duo would go a long way to shortening the load time for the Rockies to be competitive again.

“There’s a lot to build off of,” Hughes said. “There’s still more to be done, but I’m feeling very good about how the first two starts have gone, and feeling good about knowing what I have to work on and that (those improvements) can definitely be done.”

Prior to drafting Dollander (No. 9 overall in 2023) and Hughes, the Rockies whiffed on four straight dating back to 2015: Ryan Rolison, Riley Pint, Robert Tyler and Mike Nikorak. Colorado’s most recent first-round arm, 2024 No. 38 overall pick Brody Brecht, is currently in High-A.

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

“There is definitely a different mentality this season,” All-Star catcher Hunter Goodman said Tuesday before the Rockies hosted the Red Sox at Coors Field. “You can feel it in the clubhouse, and we take that with us to the field. Now, it feels like we can beat anybody, any night.

“Don’t get me wrong, we still want to — need to — win more than we have, and we are not where we want to be, in terms of wins and losses. But this year, there has been a lot better vibe, and much better results. We’re winning games we would have lost last year.”

True enough. The Rockies entered Tuesday night’s game with a 31-48 record, on pace to finish 98-64 with a minus-182 run differential. Not good, certainly, but a quantum leap from last year when the Rockies finished the season with 119 losses and a minus-424 run differential that was by far the worst in major league history.

Six months ago, Goodman, the team’s only All-Star in 2025, spoke bluntly about the state of the team.

“Last year, we had a super young team, me included,” Goodman said during Fan Fest. “I think we had a lot of people (who) were just happy to be here.

“When I first got called up, I was just happy to be here. And you can’t play like that. You’ve got to walk on the field and be like, ‘We’re the best team. I’m the best player on the field.’ You’ve got to walk on the field with a different level of confidence.”

Goodman, whose 21 home runs ranked fifth in the majors entering Tuesday’s play, feels that confidence growing.

“We have a lot of energy, and we’re going out to compete every night,” he said Tuesday. “We didn’t always have that last year.”

Manager Warren Schaeffer was thrilled to hear about Goodman’s comments.

“Absolutely, I’ve felt that vibe,” Schaeffer said. “And I’m glad he said it. It’s their team. It’s his team. (But) that makes me feel good, because I believe it. I’m trying to facilitate that. We set a high standard, and everybody wants to live up to that.”

Tangible evidence of Colorado’s improvement is its ability to win close games, such as its dramatic, 3-2, walk-off victory over the Red Sox on Monday night.

“I think that’s big in the process of becoming a winning team,” Schaeffer said. “Because winning teams win one-run games. The small things always show up in a game, but specifically in one-run games, there are make-or-break difference-makers.

“Whether it’s how you run the bases, how you execute on the mound, how you execute at the plate — situationally. Basically, what it all comes down to is, ‘How do you handle pressure?’ So, in one-run games, it’s about who handles the tough situations better. We have been getting better at that. It’s been good to watch these boys grow.”

Dollander undergoes surgery

Right-hander Chase Dollander underwent internal brace surgery on his right elbow on Monday. Dollander was able to avoid Tommy John surgery, which would have required rebuilding his elbow.

“Everything went well,” Schaeffer said. “Everything seemed to have gone well.”

Dollander was removed from a May 14, 2026, game against the Pirates in the second inning with a sprained ulnar collateral ligament (UCL). Dollander is still looked upon as the future No. 1 pitcher in the rotation.

Depending on the extent of UCL damage, some athletes choose the brace procedure over Tommy John surgery, in part because it allows them to return to the playing field more quickly.

According to a that analyzed 350 athletes who had undergone UCL internal bracing over three years, the average recovery time is seven months.  That means anywhere from five to nine months faster than recovery time after Tommy John reconstruction.

Mickey Moniak returned from the injured list ahead of Monday night’s game between the Red Sox and Rockies at Coors Field. Meanwhile, Brenton Doyle and Jordan Beck left Denver on Monday to begin their rehab stints with Triple-A Albuquerque Isotopes.

And speaking of the Isotopes, outfield prospects Charlie Condon and Zac Veen are battering Triple-A pitching and threatening to kick down the big-league door.

It will be Byrnes’ job — along with Paul DePodesta, the president of baseball operations — to make some important, franchise-shaping decisions in the coming weeks.

For a rebuilding team like the Rockies, that entered Monday’s game with a 30-48 record, the Aug. 3 trade deadline looms as a huge opportunity. Byrnes acknowledged Monday that the franchise lacks big-league-ready pitching and must build depth. Trades could be part of the equation.

“I think that, candidly, we’d like to — and it’s been done here before — build a pitching staff that’s playoff caliber and hopefully sustainable for several years,” he said. “Not just the players, but the methods behind it. I think it’s probably pretty high on the list for what we’re trying to do.”

Asked if trades could be a solution, Byrnes answered: “I think that’s spot on. I think that’s where we see it too. We need more upper-level pitching. We’ve found some, you know, in various ways.”

Byrnes pointed to right-hander Andrew Baker as an example. Colorado acquired Baker, 26, from the Phillies last month in exchange for international signing money. Baker will soon be promoted from Double-A Hartford to Triple-A, Byrnes said.

“We just have to constantly be on the hunt for pitching, hopefully, up and down the organization,” Byrnes said.

In the winter of 2015, former Rockies GM Jeff Bridich and his staff were hunting too. Venezuelan right-hander German Marquez was coming off a promising season with the Charlotte Stonecrabs, Tampa Bay’s High-A team, and the Rockies were very interested.

The Rockies and the Rays completed the trade in January 2016, with the Rockies acquiring left-handed reliever Jake McGee and Marquez in exchange for outfielder slugger Corey Dickerson and infielder Kevin Padlo. Marquez turned out to be one of the best pitchers in Rockies history and helped them make the playoffs in 2017 and ’18.

“Jack Gillis gets a lot of the credit for having done a lot of the scouting work … He had seen German pitch a number of times,” Bridich told The Post in 2019. “Jack had an instinct and gut feel for what German could become at the major-league level.”

Dickerson, a fan favorite, had a breakout season in 2024, slashing .312/.364/.567 with 24 home runs and 27 doubles. However, his 2015 season was marred by plantar fasciitis in his left foot, making him expendable in a trade.

Perhaps the Rockies are exploring trading a Dickerson-like outfielder now? To the question about trading from outfield depth, Byrnes gave a vague response.

“We’re talking to teams constantly,” he said. “I, obviously, won’t reveal too much about who or what we’re talking about. Teams usually make trades because they have depth (at a position) and trade out a bit.”

Colorado certainly has talent in the outfield, but how enticing it is to other teams remains to be seen.

Before Moniak went on the IL on May 22 with right ankle tendinitis, he was slashing .280/.335/.607 (942 OPS) with 12 home runs. There was talk of a possible trip to the All-Star Game.

Monday night, the Rockies started exciting rookie Cole Carrigg in center. He hit .250 with three homers in his first 12 games. Speedy Jake McCarthy (.295 average, five home runs, .801 OPS) started in left, and Tyler Freeman (.268, three homers, .771 OPS) started in right. Colorado also has Troy Johnston (.309, three homers, .811 OPS) on the current big-league roster.

Regarding Doyle and Beck returning to the Rockies after their rehab stints, manager Warren Schaeffer recently said that the club is in no rush to make roster decisions.

At Triple-A, Condon, ranked as Colorado’s No. 2 prospect by MLB.com, is sizzling. In 17 games in June, the right fielder has hit .262 with a 1.055 OPS and six home runs. Overall this season, he’s slashed .262/.397/.512 with 14 homers.

Veen, the No. 13 prospect, has hit safely in 22 straight games, the longest active streak in the minors. He’s slashing .419/.433/.828 with 11 doubles, three triples, seven home runs, and 18 RBI over the stretch.

So, what does Byrnes tell the hot prospects when they’re still down on the farm, biding their time?

“If you’re in Triple A and you think you should be in the big leagues, I think it’s a fair question,” he said. “I often say to players, ‘You’re not a human being if you’re not like, a little, why am I not getting a shot?’

“That’s a human reaction. So, we can explain that there’s a lot about an individual player’s readiness, what’s going on with our rosters — a lot of reasons. I also say, ‘Maybe we’re right, maybe we’re not.’ (Their instinct is), they’re ready. We’re saying not quite, not quite yet.”

But the 26-year-old Rumfield, who’s displayed remarkable patience and plate discipline for a rookie, waited on reliever Dennis Santana’s 3-1 changeup and smashed it into the seats beyond right field for a three-run homer. The Rockies scored two more runs in the eighth, but the Pirates prevailed, 8-6, denying Colorado a three-game sweep at Coors Field.

Still, Rumfield continues to put himself into the early conversation for National League rookie of the year. His homer was his 12th on the season, and he leads the Rockies with 42 RBIs. He ranks among qualified NL rookies in hits (tied for first, 74), homers (tied for second), OPS (first, .842), batting average (second, .279), RBIs (second), and slugging percentage (second, .483).

“He’s doing it in all facets of the game,” manager Warren Schaeffer said. “His defense has been outstanding. I’d start there. I’d start with the consistency of the at-bats — walks. The ability to play every day, through everything, that’s what good players do. He posts up. Really, I’d point to everything he’s doing. The only thing he doesn’t do is steal bases.”

The soft-spoken Rumfield, predictably, said that visions of postseason honors have not entered his head, even after he was named NL rookie of the month in May.

“Even a thing like rookie of the month is just outside noise,” Rumfield said. “It has nothing to do with how I am going to prepare for the game tomorrow or the next day or the day after. It’s nice to be recognized for something, but also, you need to know what it took to get there.”

Over his last 11 games, Rumfield is hitting .357 (15 for 42) with 10 extra-base hits — four doubles, one triple, and five homers. For the season, he’s hitting .299 with runners in scoring position.

He was taught in the Yankees’ minor league system that the ability to produce runs is paramount. He learned a hard lesson at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, under assistant hitting coach Trevor Amicone, now a coach with the Twins.

“I grounded into a double play on a first pitch (against) a relief pitcher,” recalled Rumfield, whom the Rockies acquired in a January trade. “I remember the hitting coach sat me down the next day. He basically laid it out and said, ‘That can’t happen. If you are going to be one of the guys that hits in the middle of the order, and if you ground into a double play, your team has no chance.’ It’s just things like that, and situations, and being on that sort of stuff.”

On Sunday, Colorado had just one hit through the first seven innings, and starter Michael Lorenzen struggled to put Pirates hitters away, even though he felt that his stuff was solid. The right-hander gave up four runs on seven hits over 5 1/3 innings. Nick Gonzales mashed a two-run, 431-foot homer to left-center in the fourth.

“I thought Mike was good, I thought it was another building block for him,” Schaeffer said. “I thought he pitched very well and got ahead in counts.”

Lorenzen, who has a 7.11 ERA, has definitely pitched better of late, throwing at least five innings in each of his last three starts, while posting a 3.52 ERA with 17 strikeouts. But he was not happy with his performance on Sunday.

“I just let too many guys off the hook, and that was frustrating,” he said. “Most of the hits were two strikes, and there were a lot of two-strike pitches in play because I couldn’t execute a 1-2 or 0-2 pitch that was anywhere near the zone.

“It’s one of those things that is going to keep me up at night because, like I said, I let a lot of guys off the hook. If I could have just executed on pitch to a lot of those guys, we’re in a much better spot as a team.”

Pitching probables

Monday: Red Sox LHP Jake Bennett (1-3, 4.79 ERA) at Rockies RHP Ryan Feltner (2-2, 5.05), 6:40 p.m.
Tuesday: Red Sox RHP Sonny Gray (8-1, 3.12) at Rockies LHP Sean Sullivan (0-1, 10.29), 6:40 p.m.
Wednesday: Red Sox LHP Ranger Suarez (3-3, 2.93) at Rockies LHP Kyle Freeland (1-7, 7.36), 1:10 p.m.
Thursday: Off day

TV: Rockies.TV
Radio: KOA 850 AM/94.1 FM

“Very nice,” he said, giving me a wry, knowing smile and a short laugh.

Some background is definitely required here.

In 2014, Weiss was managing the Rockies on a hazy, humid September Sunday morning at Busch Stadium in St. Louis. Somehow, Weiss, MLB.com’s Thomas Harding, and I started talking about our 1970s crushes. We mentioned, of course, Farrah Fawcett and her famous poster, Cheryl Tiegs and her poster, as well as other supermodels and Hollywood stars. I said I once had a poster of pop singer Linda Ronstadt.

Then came the bombshell.

“I had a crush on Barbara Streisand,” Thomas said. “I thought she was hot.”

Walt and I were aghast. As Walt pointed out, “Babs” had a nose like his own. No way Thomas was telling us the truth, right? To this day, insists he was.

The kicker came after the Rockies lost to the Cardinals that day. Walt pulled us aside and said, “You know, when I was going out to the mound to make a pitching change, I kept thinking about Barbra Streisand. Thanks a lot, Thomas.”

The point of my ramble down memory lane? My nearly 28-year career at The Denver Post ends Wednesday when the Rockies host the Red Sox at Coors Field. I’ve covered World Series, Super Bowls, Final Fours, Nuggets games and scores of high school state championships alongside Kyle Newman. In the end, my fondest memories are not about games, highlight reels, strategy, upsets, or scoops. My fondest memories are about people. It’s what I wrote about best.

Being a baseball beat writer is the most gratifying of any of the major sports beats, in my humble opinion. You get to know the people, from owners and managers to players and clubbies to broadcasters and fellow writers. Meanwhile, the walls between the NFL and the media grow thicker and taller with each passing year. I can’t imagine Broncos beat writers talking about their boyhood crushes with coach Sean Payton.

I was hired by The Post in October 1998, joining Adam Schefter as a Broncos No. 2 beat writer, just in time to cover John Elway’s second Super Bowl title. In the summer of 2005, I was yanked off the Broncos beat and moved to the Rockies, as the No. 2 writer behind current Post columnist Troy Renck. It was a demotion for me, no doubt.

My wife, Nancy, and I were shocked by the grind of the baseball beat, especially back in the days when The Post still traveled to cover the Rockies. We eventually embraced the lifestyle, though it wasn’t easy.

Covering a team afflicted with chronic losing wasn’t easy either. I covered the Rockies for nearly 20 years, and during that time, they had five winning seasons, made the playoffs four times, and made one magical run to the World Series in 2007.

I’ve had to rewrite more deadline game stories than I can count. The adage in the Coors Field press box: “The Rockies blew another lead. And they blew another lede.”

But, all in all, it’s been quite a wonderful ride. What follows are excerpts from some of my favorite stories I wrote for The Post. The common theme is people.

McCaffrey family legacy

When I started covering the Broncos, first for the Longmont Times-Call and then with The Post, training camp was still held at the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley. The players stayed in one dorm, the media in another, and we shared the same cafeteria. Access to the players was incredible. I once interviewed Elway while riding in a golf cart as the fans screamed for autographs — Elway’s, not mine.

That’s how I got to know wide receiver Ed McCaffrey and his wife, Lisa. In 1999, I profiled their family’s rich sports legacy:

When 5-year-old Max McCaffrey plays soccer, his 3-year-old brother, Christian, can’t bear to watch.

“Christian is always trying to run out on the field to be with his big brother,” his dad said. “We have to keep reeling him back in.”

Christian can’t help it. The need for speed, the energy driving his little motor, the desire to follow the bouncing ball — they’re in his genes.

His grandfather won a silver medal in the 100-meter dash at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome. Uncle Billy became a legend in the Pennsylvania Rust Belt and later won a national basketball championship with the Duke Blue Devils.

When she was a pixie in South Florida, Christian’s mom scored so many goals for her high school soccer team that her mug shot ended up in Sports Illustrated’s “Faces in the Crowd.”

Christian’s dad? All he’s done is win three Super Bowl rings, earn a trip to the Pro Bowl, develop a stiff-arm that could stop a rhinoceros, become one of the best receivers in Denver Broncos history and destroy forever the notion that white men can’t run.

Arenado’s SoCal roots

In 2016, Rockies third baseman Nolan Arenado was a budding star. I traveled to his boyhood home of Lake Forest, in Orange County, California. While the Rockies hosted the Blue Jays at Coors Field, I sat in the living room of Fernando and Millie Arenado as they watched the game on TV. It was a remarkable day, topped off with a trip to El Toro High School, less than 10 minutes from the Arenado home. I spent an hour reminiscing with Mike Gonzalez, Arenado’s high school coach.

Here’s the beginning of my story about Arenado’s baseball roots:

LAKE FOREST, Calif. — The trim, stucco home looks like many others in this quiet, middle-class Southern California neighborhood. There is a basketball hoop out front and a beautifully tiled swimming pool in the backyard.

Step inside and you’re enveloped by warmth. Family photos cover every wall, every shelf, every nook and cranny. The family dog, a white Havanese named Mojito (“Mo” for short), hops up on the comfy couch to greet visitors.

Baseball is everywhere, too. Indeed, the home is something of an impromptu museum. Near the TV in the living room sits Nolan Arenado’s gleaming 2015 Silver Slugger Award. Open a nearby cabinet, and one of Arenado’s three Gold Glove Awards sits among a sea of memorabilia.

Likely more baseball stuff will be added after Tuesday night����ap All-Star Game in San Diego, where Arenado, the Rockies’ third baseman, will be appearing, the second year in a row he was voted in by fellow major-league players. Who knows? Perhaps an All-Star Game MVP trophy will be his newest baseball heirloom. At the very least, his All-Star Game jersey will find a place in the Arenado home.

Upstairs is the “Bonus Room,” as the family calls it. In the middle sits a pool table, now overflowing with framed photos, jerseys and signed baseballs. On the couch in front of a big-screen TV sits a Star Wars stormtrooper helmet. Back in the day, Arenado wore it while playing video games.

A day in the life of Buddy Black

I covered five managers in my time with the Rockies: Clint Hurdle, a force of nature and philosophy; Loquacious Jim Tracy, one of the nicest men I’ve ever met; Weiss, a fellow Bruce Springsteen fanatic; Bud Black, a walking baseball encyclopedia who’s beloved throughout the game; and current manager Warren Schaeffer, full of incredible passion and heart.

Of all of the Rockies’ managers, I know Black the best. We’re near the same age and share the same sense of humor. We still text frequently. In 2018, in the midst of a race for the National League West title, Black allowed me to go behind the scenes and chronicle a day in the life of a big-league manager:

It����ap the second week of September, the Rockies are chasing their first division title, and Bud Black has former Bronco Peyton Manning on his mind.

He’s trying to figure out a way to get the legendary quarterback to appear in a video that would play on the giant scoreboard at Coors Field as the Rockies make their run to a possible National League West crown.

“I want Peyton, waving his arms up and down, to get the crowd going,” Black says. “Hey, we don’t care about the snap count! We want it loud! ‘Omaha! Omaha!’ ”

Later in the afternoon, he’ll call in Julian Valentin, the director of social media, to see if there has been any progress on Project Peyton. (Valentin tells Black that it����ap being looked into).

Black’s office, down the hallway from the players’ spacious clubhouse, contains a comfy black-leather couch and a tidy desk. Photographs of Coors Field adorn the walls, including one that captures the joy of a young boy watching a game. Encased in a glass frame is the lineup and a baseball from Black’s first game as Rockies manager. It����ap dated April 3, 2017, a game in which the Rockies beat the Brewers at Milwaukee, 7-5.

Black has plenty on his to-do list, though he goes about his chores with a relaxed, easy manner. Colorado’s second-year manager, age 61, plans to watch video, meet with his coaches, chat with some players and confer with head trainer Keith Dugger. The night before, the Rockies hammered the Diamondbacks, 13-2. With nothing to stew over and no second-guesses haunting him, he got an excellent night����ap sleep. Today, he’s open to having a reporter shadow him, from arriving at the ballpark just after noon through another critical game that night vs. Arizona.

Helton gets the call

Todd Helton is the greatest player in Rockies history. He’s a complex, moody, smart and extremely funny man. His sense of humor can be cutting and takes some getting used to. Somehow, we bonded.

In January 2024, Helton invited Thomas and me to his home outside Knoxville, Tenn., to be there with his family and close friends when he got the call that he’d been elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame. We all figured he’d get in, but there were no guarantees. It turned out to be one of the most memorable days of my career:

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Todd Helton, arms folded across his chest, nervously paced the living room of his home Tuesday afternoon.

“I haven’t been superstitious for 10 years, not since I retired,” the Rockies’ iconic first baseman said. “Today, I’m superstitious. I didn’t look at anything, I didn’t watch anything, I didn’t look at the internet.”

He could have spared himself the angst.

Because, fittingly, at 5:17 p.m. Eastern time, No. 17 got the call of a lifetime. Told that he had been elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame, Helton pumped his fist and finally took a deep breath.

“It����ap the greatest honor you can get as a baseball player,” Helton said. “Getting your number retired and getting elected to the Hall of Fame are the two greatest achievements you can get.”

Still, Helton wasn’t quite ready to let it all go.

“I’m going to go (crazy) when y’all leave,” he said.

The sweet-swinging Helton, the beloved heart and soul of the Rockies for 17 seasons and one of the most accomplished players of his era, received 79.7% of the vote, clearing the 75% bar required by the Hall of Fame and the Baseball Writers’ Association of America.

Matzek, ‘The Yips,’ and me

We’ve all got something. Mine is anxiety and depression, something I’ve dealt with for much of my adult life.

That’s why I was so interested in Tyler Matzek’s story. The former Rockies pitcher had such a bad case of the yips, brought on by performance anxiety, that it nearly ruined his baseball career. In December 2015, we met in a Southern California coffee shop and talked for nearly three hours. He was remarkably candid.

In 2021, he won a World Series as a shutdown reliever for the Braves. But before that, I wrote this story:

LAGUNA HILLS, Calif. — On Sept. 5, 2014, at Coors Field, Tyler Matzek pitched a three-hit shutout against the San Diego Padres. Poised and confident, and throwing a 94 mph fastball with graceful ease, the Rockies’ rookie left-hander was dominant. Over his final six starts, Matzek went 4-2 with a 1.55 ERA. He looked like the Rockies’ ace of the future.

Yet demons lurked in the corners of Matzek’s mind, and by the time he took the mound for the Rockies’ 2015 home opener April 10, he was headed for trouble.

“Even when things were going the right way, there was this overwhelming stress inside me that just kept building and building and building,” Matzek said recently while sipping coffee at a Starbucks in Southern California. “(Then) I just couldn’t hold that stress any longer and my game collapsed.”

Matzek was suffering from performance anxiety.

It wrecked him on the mound and even began to creep into his everyday life.

“My wife, Lauren, said it was our worst time, relationship-wise, because I was so tight, so stressed, just waiting to explode from this thing,” Matzek said. “She knew it wasn’t about her, but it was hard.”

But the quiet, intelligent 25-year-old confronted his condition head-on, confident he would fulfill the promise that prompted the Rockies to make him the 11th pick in the first round of the 2009 draft. He is determined to compete for a job in the Rockies’ starting rotation in spring training.

Thanks, mom

The day after I cover my final Rockies game, Nancy and I are flying to Southern California. We’ll join my extended family to scatter the ashes of my mom, Anita, and my dad, Dusty, in Laguna Beach, their favorite vacation spot.

This is my final chance to say thanks, sharing past stories with you:

Somewhere up there, my mom is smiling.

Ryan McMahon hit a home run for the Rockies in their 4-3 win over the Giants on Thursday night. McMahon broke out of a horrendous slump.

“RyMac” was my mom’s second-favorite Rockie, right behind Todd Helton. Why? Partly because he’s Irish, mostly because I like RyMac.

She was thrilled when Helton invited me to his Knoxville, Tenn., home to witness his Hall of Fame phone call in January 2024. When my wife, Nancy, and I were invited to Helton’s party in Cooperstown last July, my mom felt like she was there.

During her last years, I watched Rockies road games with her when I could. She rarely asked why the team was winning or losing. Strategy was not her thing. She always asked, “Is so and so a good guy?”

That����ap the kind of sports fan my mom was. She knew nothing about OPS, yards after catch, 3-point percentages, or point spreads. She just liked how players played and hoped they were good people. She loved Dr. J, Nolan Arenado and Floyd Little.

In the Broncos’ infancy, when Little was their only star and the game plan was “Little off left tackle, Little off right tackle,” my mom would shout, “Don’t hurt Floyd!”

In her later years, she’d tried to stay up late enough to watch manager Bud Black’s postgame news conference, not because she wanted to hear his explanations but to hear me ask a question.

Thanks, dad

I wrote this journal a few months before my dad died in May 2022:

What do you get your dad for his 90th birthday?

I’ve been pondering that question for the past few weeks. I kept striking out.

Then, as I perused the web, I came across a cool T-shirt. Cardinals red, the shirt displays the image of Stan Musial, leaning on a baseball bat. The script simply reads: The MAN.

How many sports-related T-shirts, sweatshirts and books have I given my dad over the years? I’ve lost track. It doesn’t matter. My dad’s going to love his “Stan the Man” T-shirt.

A father and son bonding over sports is not unique, but it is different for every father and son.

Walter Patrick “Dusty” Saunders was born on Sept. 24, 1931, in Denver. He was a lonely kid. His father died when he was 9 years old, and his mom died when he was 10.

In the 1940s, my dad’s companions were the radio, books and sports. He became a St. Louis Cardinals fan because he could pick up the strong signal from KMOX radio in St. Louis. Musial was his favorite player.

In 2006, my first full year on the Rockies beat, I took my dad to St. Louis for Father’s Day to watch the Rockies play the Cardinals in the first year of the new Busch Stadium. He chatted with Clint Hurdle and Todd Helton. After the game, my dad, MLB.com Rockies beat writer Thomas Harding and I had dinner at former Cardinal Mike Shannon’s restaurant. Thomas and I still talk about that day.

And, oh yes, a 2-1 Rockies victory that clinched the series win over the Pirates. It was Colorado’s seventh series win of the season, and they have won four of their last seven series.

Now, about that funky ending. With the bases loaded and two outs and Rockies right-hander Jaden Hill on the mound, the Pirates’ Jake Mangum hit a grounder to Rockies third baseman Kyle Karros, who never got a throw off. But Karros immediately protested that Billy Cook, running from second to third, had interfered with Karros’ attempt to field the ball. Karros said that Cook’s cleat hit his glove.

The umpires huddled and called Cook out, ending the ballgame. The Pirates protested, but after the game, manager Don Kelly conceded that the call was correct.

“It was just a slow roller, and I was going to get the ball, and his cleat kind of clipped my glove,” Karros explained. “I still fielded the ball, but it was rattling around my glove, and I couldn’t really get a throw off. I knew the rule going into the play: if there is any contact, the runner is out.”

There were plenty of Pirates fans in the crowd who showed up to watch Pirates ace Paul Skenes do his thing. And he did. But so did the Rockies’ Tomoyuki Sugano, who actually outpitched Skenes.

Rockies leadoff hitter Jake McCarthy provided the night’s pyrotechnics. He hammered Skene’s fourth pitch of the game — a 95 mph fastball — into the gap in right-center. Center fielder Jake Mangum dove for the ball, and when he missed, McCarthy motored around the bases for an inside-the-park home run.

“(Mangum) almost made a really good play, but I’m always trying to take extra 90s when I can get them,” McCarthy said. “I’ve never had an insider-the-parker before. It’s usually a triple and an error, so that was cool.”

McCarthy’s inside-the-park homer was the first one for the Rockies since Ian Desmond did it on June 14, 2019, vs. San Diego. It was the second leadoff inside-the-park home run in franchise history. Eric Young Jr. also did it on Aug. 8, 2012, at Dodger Stadium.

The methodical Sugano doesn’t have Skene’s firepower, but the veteran right-hander knows how to pitch. Working like a craftsman, he kept the Pirates off-balance for six innings. His slider was particularly effective. Sugano allowed one run on four hits, struck out a season-high five, and didn’t walk a batter. He made his team-leading fourth quality start of the season.

Sugano was aware that the Rockies were facing one of baseball’s elite pitchers, but he concentrated on his game.

“It’s not that I don’t think about (competing against Skenes) at all,” Sugano said through interpreter Yuto Sakura. “But it’s not me facing Paul Skenes, in particular. I just thought, minimize the damage. I just knew that we can’t really score that much. He’s a good pitcher, so I wanted to minimize the damage.”

Skenes, last year’s National League Cy Young Award winner, gave up two runs on four hits over six innings. The right-hander struck out eight, but also walked two and plunked two.

“We didn’t get a lot of big hits against him, but I thought we made him work,” Rockies manager Warren Schaeffer said.

The game began poorly for Sugano. Pirates leadoff hitter Spencer Horowitz planted Sugano’s fourth pitch of the game — a 2-1, 93.7 mph fastball — into the second deck in right field. Next up, Brandon Lowe laced a single to right.

But from that point on, Sugano allowed only two hits and retired the final 12 batters he faced.

The Rockies took a 2-1 lead in the third, again utilizing McCarthy’s speed. He dumped a ball into shallow center field and turned it into a hustle double. McCarthy scored on TJ Rumfield’s opposite-field single to left.

“Jake does that all of the time; that’s how he plays baseball,” Colorado manager Warren Schaeffer said. “It’s every day. That’s why he’s such a great player. That’s what he brings to the table every single night.

“It really plays up here at Coors Field with the expansive outfield. He uses it to his advantage, and he’s always hard out of the box. He set the tone tonight, no doubt about it.”

Pitching probables

Sunday: Pirates RHP Jared Jones (1-1, 6.23 ERA) at Rockies RHP Michael Lorenzen (2-8, 7.13), 1:10 p.m.
Monday: Red Sox LHP Jake Bennett (1-3, 4.79) at Rockies RHP Ryan Feltner (2-2, 5.05), 6:40 p.m.
Tuesday: Red Sox RHP Sonny Gray (8-1, 3.12) at Rockies LHP Sean Sullivan (0-1, 10.29), 1:40 p.m.
TV: Rockies.TV
Radio: KOA 850 AM/94.1 FM