DENVER — Rockies Report, Game 139:
ROCKIES BOTTOM LINE: TJ Rumfield’s 14th home run of the season broke a 2-2 seventh-inning tie, powering the Rockies to a 4-2 win over the Baltimore Orioles on Tuesday night that brought a merciful end to the club’s franchise-record 10-game Coors Field losing streak.
Rumfield’s 404-foot shot into the Colorado bullpen scored Mickey Moniak from second after he’d reached on a two-base error to lead off the inning when Jackson Holliday dropped a pop fly into shallow right field. Unlike the previous night, there was no pulling Rumfield’s shot back from over the fence.
TJ 2-RUN HOME RUN 😤 pic.twitter.com/UxAQmFPH2j
— Colorado Rockies (@Rockies) September 2, 2026
“It was huge, left-on-left matchup,” Rockies manager Warren Schaeffer. “… He was due for a homer, and it couldn’t have come at a bigger time for us.”
Holliday’s bobble came moments after he’d tied the game with a solo homer over the right-field scoreboard.
Colorado never trailed in the contest, taking a 2-0 second-inning lead on an Adael Amador’s solo homer and a Jake McCarthy RBI single, which scored Zac Veen after he’d reached base with a two-out triple to right field. Amador was called up earlier in the day along with Blas Castaño as the rosters expanded to 27 players for play in September.
The Rockies improved to 53-86.
ROCKIES STARTER’S REPORT
Gabriel Hughes avoided the big inning — but he also didn’t get a chance to completely wiggle his way out of trouble, with his night ending after 4 2/3 innings and 78 pitches after he’d loaded the bases via two walks and a single — all with two outs.
Hughes did take a step forward in overcoming a leadoff single in the first and a one-out Rumfield error at this base in the second. He’s had trouble with runners on base — specifically with a runner on first base — and in those innings, he didn’t let the baserunner advance any further.
The only run he allowed came in the third inning, when he allowed a pair of singles, getting out of the inning with a 3-6-3 double play. But because the second out came when Pete Alonso was caught in a rundown after Rumfield tagged first base while fielding Gunnar Henderson’s sharp grounder, Carlos Narvaéz had time to score from third base to get the Orioles on the board.
That started a string of six-consecutive outs recorded by Hughes before his fifth-inning troubles. At that point, Schaeffer relieved Hughes, setting up a lefty-lefty matchup with Brennan Bernardino against Henderson. Bernardino induced a pop fly to end the inning and keep the third-inning run as the only one on Hughes’ ledger for the night.
“I think Gabe was really good tonight. The curveball was good, the sweeper got better as he went,” Schaeffer said.
BITS AND PIECES
IT WAS DECIDED FOR THE ROCKIES WHEN: Mickey Moniak got under Holliday’s fly ball to right field for the 27th out.
NUMBER TO NOTE: .993 — OPS allowed to opposing batters at Coors Field by Dollander this year. For the sake of comparison, Shohei Ohtani’s career OPS is .951, so for Dollander, the output is like facing a batter slightly more prolific than Ohtani all the time.
WHAT’S NEXT: With the home skid snapped, the Rockies go for two in a row and a series win over the Orioles in Wednesday’s matinee. Tomoyuki Sugano starts for the Rockies; left-hander Trevor Rodgers will get the call for Baltimore. First pitch is set for 1:10 p.m. MDT.
