Rockies’ late rally too little in 9-5 loss to Pirates at Coors Field

The comeback kids came up short.

Trailing 8-1 in the sixth inning, the Rockies hit back-to-back-to-back home runs for the first time in more than seven years. But it wasn’t enough.

The Pirates hung on to win, 9-5, Sunday afternoon at Coors Field, denying Colorado its first home sweep of the season. The Rockies have not swept an opponent at Coors since May 10-12, 2024, when they took three games from the Texas Rangers.

Friday night, the Rockies came back from a 9-0 first-inning deficit to beat Pittsburgh, 17-16, on Brenton Doyle’s walk-off, two-run homer. Saturday afternoon, they trailed 4-0 but rallied for an 8-5 victory.

Sunday, however, the hole proved too deep and the climb too steep after the Pirates torched Rockies pitchers for three homers — a pair of two-run shots and a three-run blast. Pittsburgh leadoff hitter Spencer Horwitz did the most damage, belting two homers and driving in a career-high six runs.

“I never really thought we were out of the game, and I thought we were putting together some decent ABs,” Rockies left fielder Jordan Beck said. “Obviously, the (three consecutive homers) was a big moment for us, but it was just a little short.”

Beck hit one of the homers in the sixth-inning onslaught, but he wasn’t around for much longer. He was ejected in the seventh inning by home plate umpire Alfonso Marquez for arguing about a called strike three. The pitch was clearly outside of the strike zone, but Beck uttered “magic language” to Marquez and got tossed.

“I disagreed with the call, and I told him I disagreed and he threw me out,” Beck said. “I’m sure there was magic language involved, but I honestly wouldn’t say I got my money’s worth there.”

Before Colorado rallied, its bats were as mellow as the Sunday crowd of 32,394.

But in the sixth, Tyler Freeman drew a leadoff walk from right-hander Mitch Keller, who had stifled the Rockies for five innings, allowing only four hits. Then Mickey Moniak crushed a 433-foot homer down the right-field line, scoring Freeman.

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Next up was catcher Hunter Goodman, who busted a bat over his thigh in frustration when he fouled out in the fourth inning. This time, Goodman ripped Keller’s 0-1 sweeper 451 feet and onto the left-field concourse. Then Beck hit Keller’s 2-2 sweeper over the left-field wall to make it an 8-5 ballgame.

It was the first time since June 19, 2018, that the Rockies hit three consecutive homers in three at-bats. In that game, Nolan Arenado, Trevor Story and Ian Desmond pulled off the three-peat in a 10-8 win over the Mets at Coors Field.

The Rockies’ poor starting pitching — a major league-worst 6.23 ERA — continues to put the team in early deficits. And manager Warren Schaeffer was disappointed with the Rockies’ execution in several areas.

“There were too many mental errors,” he said. “Two-out walks, the infield not coming in on a hit, Yanquiel (Fernandez) coming off second base on a double. Ezequiel (Tovar) called timeout twice (in an at-bat).

“Unforced errors, we had a bunch of them in one game. That’s not the major reason we lost but they add up.”

Right-hander Bradley Blalock gave up seven runs on six hits over 5 2/3 innings as his ERA rose to 7.68. He walked four and struck out two.

Pittsburgh struck quickly. Horwitz led off the game with a double and scored on Nick Gonzalez’s single. Tommy Pham drove in Gonzalez with a 446-foot homer to center. Horwitz’s two-run homer in the second put Pittsburgh ahead, 5-0. His three-run homer off lefty reliever Ryan Rolison in the sixth put the Pirates ahead, 8-1.

Monday’s pitching matchup

Blue Jays LHP Eric Lauer (6-2, 2.68 ERA) at Rockies RHP Tanner Gordon (2-3, 4.85), 6:40 p.m.

6:40 p.m. Monday, Coors Field

TV: Rockies.TV (streaming); Comcast/Xfinity (channel 1262); DirecTV (683); Spectrum (130, 445, 305, 435 or 445, depending on region).

Radio: 850 AM, 94.1 FM

Trending: The Rockies, 8-7 since the All-Star break, have won three consecutive home series after taking two of three games from the Pirates over the weekend. Colorado won two of three at Coors Field against Minnesota and St. Louis to begin the second half of the season to claim back-to-back series wins for the first time since Sept. 13-18, 2024.