It’s been a long time coming, but the Rockies finally did it. They shut out an opponent.
Colorado blanked the Cardinals, 6-0, on Wednesday afternoon at Coors Field in the team’s first shutout since May 15, 2024, when the Rockies beat the Padres, 8-0, in San Diego. The 220-game drought was the longest of baseball’s modern era, supplanting a 199-game run without a shutout by the St. Louis Browns in 1939.
Wednesday also marked Colorado’s first shutout at home since July 30, 2023, vs. Oakland in a 2-0 victory.
Starter Tanner Gordon, called up from Triple-A Albuquerque, pitched six scoreless innings, and relievers Jimmy Herget and Tyler Kinley finished the job.
“That’s a long time, 220 games,” interim manager Warren Schaeffer said after Colorado improved to 4-2 since the All-Star break. “But I’m glad we shut them out today.”
And those weren’t your father’s Blake Street Bombers at the plate. More like your grandfather’s “Go Go Rox.”
Whatever the moniker, the Rockies (26-76) played the brand of baseball that Schaeffer has been preaching for two-plus months. In beating the Cardinals to capture the three-game series, the Rockies had 12 hits, all of them singles save for Jordan Beck’s RBI double in the fifth and Ezequiel Tovar’s solo homer to right in the eighth.
Colorado won just its fourth series of the season and won its first rubber game after going 0 for 4 entering Wednesday.
Gordon, called up as right-hander German Marquez (biceps tendinitis) went on the 15-day injured list, was not overpowering. But he kept St. Louis hitters off-balance, limiting them to just four hits. He struck out three, walked three and threw 65 of 95 pitches for strikes. After four big-league starts this season, Gordon is 2-2 with a 3.13 ERA.
He had two walks in the first inning, something he attributed to big-league adrenaline.
“I kind of settled in and played the game like I know how to play,” Gordon said. “Obviously, everyone wants to stay up here, so I was going through my routine in Triple-A, kind of treating it like the big leagues.”
Schaeffer was impressed.
“Gordon did a fantastic job through six innings,” Schaeffer said. “He had a good mix — changeup, slider, fastball.”
Colorado scored four runs in the second inning off St. Louis right-hander Andre Pallante. A leadoff walk by Ryan McMahon was followed up by five consecutive singles by Austin Nola, Kyle Farmer, Adael Amador, Tyler Freeman and Mickey Moniak.
After a day off on Thursday, the Rockies open a six-game road trip at Baltimore on Friday. Schaeffer wants to see his team continue stringing at-bats together away from Coors Field.
“I think that always plays in every ballpark,” he said.
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