Rockies snap 220-game streak without shutout, longest in modern era

Rockies Report, Game 102:

ROCKIES BOTTOM LINE: It had been over a full calendar year since the Rockies last shut out an opponent. It had been over 10 months since they last completed a winning homestand.

Both of those went out the window Wednesday afternoon when Tanner Gordon, called up for a spot start after Germán Márquez landed on the injured list, delivered six exquisite shutout innings. The bullpen did the rest, and six different Rox delivered RBIs in a 6-0 shutout of the St. Louis Cardinals at Coors Field.

Coming on the heels of an 8-4 win Tuesday night, the Rox completed a 4-2 homestand with a pair of series wins over Minnesota and the Cardinals, taking two out of three from each team.

Colorado is now 7-11 this month and 17-27 since June 1 after posting a 9-49 mark through the end of May.

Should the Rockies maintain their June and July pace for the final 60 games, they would finish with 49 wins, allowing them to comfortably avoid the ignominy of having the worst record in the modern era of Major League Baseball.

The second inning proved decisive Wednesday. The Rox dealt the Redbirds death by paper cuts, pounding out five consecutive one-out singles after Ryan McMahon had led off the inning with a walk. Four runs came home before a 4-6-3 double play off Hunter Goodman’s bat ended the inning.

Singles 🤝 Coors Field pic.twitter.com/ukE4HFi6Le

— Colorado Rockies (@Rockies) July 23, 2025

From there, all the drama involved whether Gordon and the Rockies’ bullpen could preserve the shutout, the first since May 15, 2024. Colorado came into the game with a streak of 220 games without a shutout, the longest in the modern era.

It was so long ago that five of the nine players in Colorado’s lineup that afternoon are no longer on the roster, although one of those — Charlie Blackmon — remains with the club as a special assistant to general manager Bill Schmidt.

But Gordon’s six shutout innings preceded three frames of one-hit ball from the bullpen, as Jimmy Herget and Tyler Kinley closed out the afternoon.

Every starter in Colorado’s lineup got a hit except for McMahon, who went 0-for-3 with a walk. Goodman, Austin Nola, Kyle Farmer and Jordan Beck chipped in a pair of hits apiece.

Colorado is 26-76.

ROCKIES STARTER’S REPORT

Just one of Gordon’s six innings was clean, but he comfortably navigated his way out of trouble throughout the afternoon and never allowed a Cardinal batter to advance beyond second base, even though he yielded a pair of doubles.

This marked the third time in four starts this season that Gordon has gone at least six innings, although in one of them it was by circumstance; the Detroit Tigers rocked him for seven runs — four earned — but he had to remain in the game to save a bullpen that worked six innings of the first game of that day’s doubleheader.

Gordon improved to 2-2 in MLB this season. He has a 1-4 mark at AAA Albuquerque. His MLB ERA and WHIP are 3.13 and 1.304, respectively; at AAA those figures are 5.25 and 1.526.

BITS AND PIECES

IT WAS DECIDED FOR THE ROCKIES WHEN: A Beck line drive skipped off the top of Masyn Wynn’s glove, turning a potential double play into an RBI double that scored Tyler Freeman and pushed Colorado’s lead to 5-0 in the fifth inning.

NUMBER TO NOTE: .555 — Colorado’s average with runners in scoring position, as the Rox went 5-for-9.

WHAT’S NEXT: A day off before starting a weekend series in Baltimore. Kyle Freeland looks for his third win of the season as the Rockies start a six-game Eastern Time Zone road swing. First pitch at Oriole Park at Camden Yards will be at 5:05 p.m. MDT.

Related

Hunter Goodman is already back — can he make history?Rockies’ freefall threatens to land them among baseball’s all-time worstRockies done in by disastrous inning as they drop seventh straightRockies to call up pitching prospect Mason Adams just weeks after deadline dealRockies lose ninth-straight at home, conclude 0-6 homestandLarry Walker statue unveiled at Coors Field