Rockies rally to beat Skenes and Pirates, but Halvorsen leaves with apparent elbow injury

Rockies Report, Game 110:

ROCKIES BOTTOM LINE: The Rockies mustered little against National League All-Star Game starter Paul Skenes for the first five innings Saturday, as he mowed through their lineup with brutal efficiency.

But then he received his Coors Field indoctrination. And even though Skenes had plenty of high-elevation experience from his time pitching at Air Force, that wasn’t enough to prevent him from being on the wrong end of a Rox rally — one which secured a second-consecutive come-from-behind win.

In roughly the same amount of time as it would take Francisco Cabrera to round third and head for home, Mickey Moniak singled, Ezequiel Tovar walked and Jordan Beck caromed a 99-MPH sinker off the top of the Bridich Barrier and over the bullpen, torpedoing Skenes’ five scoreless innings before he could record a sixth-inning out.

We’re the problem 😉 pic.twitter.com/nTudmEGcNq

— Colorado Rockies (@Rockies) August 2, 2025

Warming Bernabel subsequently fouled off three 3-2 pitches before sustaining his scalding pace with a double, and with that, Skenes’ day was done — and with it, the Pirates’ chances for victory were, too.

Thairo Estrada, Brenton Doyle and Austin Nola kept the rally going with two singles and a double at the expense of reliever Braxton Ashcraft, respectively, and by the time the dust cleared, Colorado had a 6-4 lead and was on its way to an 8-5 win.

But bad news came in the form of fireball closer Seth Halvorsen’s elbow injury in the ninth inning. He threw a high, errant fastball to Spencer Horwitz and immediately grimaced in anguish, pointing to his elbow.

Without stopping, Halvorsen went up the tunnel and back to the clubhouse with what interim manager Warren Schaeffer said was an elbow injury.

Colorado is 30-80.

ROCKIES STARTER’S REPORT

After allowing a leadoff home run to Liover Peguero, Austin Gomber settled down, working three scoreless innings — including two flawless frames in the second and fourth innings. He danced out of trouble in the third, getting Nick Gonzales to ground out to Tovar with runners on second and third to escape the jam.

But a leadoff walk to Jared Triolo unraveled Gomber in the fifth. He got the groundball he wanted five pitches later, but Tovar couldn’t corral it, leaving all hands safe.

Five pitches later, Peguero parked a curveball 384 feet over the left-field fence, just inside the foul pole. Gomber rallied to retired the next three Pirates he faced, but that ended his day.

Gomber has now allowed at least one home run in six consecutive starts, and overall has a HR/9 rate of 2.06 that is third-worst among Rox pitchers with at least five starts this year, ahead of only rookies Chase Dollander and Carson Palmquist.

A high home-run rate has always been a bugaboo for Gomber, but this rate is on pace to be the worst of his career by some distance over his 1.68 HR/9 rate of 2023.

BITS AND PIECES

IT WAS DECIDED FOR THE ROCKIES WHEN: Orlando Arcia tacked on a solo home run in the bottom of the eighth inning to push the Rockies’ lead to 8-4.

NUMBER TO NOTE: .500 — Bernabel’s batting average since his call-up after a 3-for-4 day Saturday. Forget about “Warming,” the man is “Sizzling.”

WHAT’S NEXT: The Rox go for the home sweep with Bradley Blalock, who looks for his second-straight dominant start. Mitch Keller gets the call for the Bucs. First pitch is at 1:10 p.m. MDT.

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