Rockies become first team mathematically eliminated from postseason, fall to Cardinals

DENVER — Rockies Report, Game: 143:

ROCKIES BOTTOM LINE: Right-handed starter Tanner Gordon was cruising along with two outs in the fifth inning Sunday afternoon against the Cardinals. The Rockies had a comfortable 5-1 lead; he’d retired nine of the previous 10 batters he faced; the base paths were clear.

In the next 11 pitches, it all came apart.

Iván Herrera’s single to right field made the St. Louis designated hitter the first of six consecutive Cardinals to reach base. Four would be at Gordon’s expense via two singles, an Alec Burleson double and a walk. Gordon gave way to Jimmy Herget, who failed to stanch the bleeding, allowing a single to Joshua Báez and then a 2-run homer to Nolan Gorman, completing the six-run outburst that flipped the game and sent the Rockies careening towards what would be a 10-8 defeat at Coors Field on Sunday.

Earlier in the afternoon, results elsewhere provided mathematical confirmation of what has been known for a while — that the Rox will miss the postseason for the eighth-consecutive year.

The Rockies had surged to a 5-1 lead on the strength of Mickey Moniak’s two-out RBI single in the first inning and his 436-foot bomb into the St. Louis bullpen two innings later, scoring Cole Carrigg and TJ Rumfield, each of whom had delivered two-out singles to set up Moniak, who flourished Sunday despite being ill one day earlier.

22 for 22 😤 pic.twitter.com/xVZdn7hlsW

— Colorado Rockies (@Rockies) September 6, 2026

Rumfield also delivered an RBI double in the first inning, scoring Jake McCarthy.

But in the fourth inning, the Cardinals turned to left-handed reliever Cooper Hjerpe, who made his major-league debut. Usually, that’s a prescription for disaster. But Hjerpe spent the next four innings confounding Rox batters, retiring all 12 he faced while striking out six.

“That dude was nasty,” Rockies manager Warren Schaeffer said. “Tough angle, deception, we had a lineup full of lefties.”

Colorado didn’t score again until Hjerpe gave way to Luis Gastelum in the eighth inning, when McCarthy led off with a 104-MPH missile to the right field stands, pulling Colorado back within four runs at 10-6. That spurred a late-innings rally — something this Rox club does often — as they brought the tying run to the plate in the ninth following a McCarthy two-out, 2-RBI single to draw within 10-8.

But that was as close as the Rockies came to stealing a win. They fell to 55-88.

ROCKIES STARTER’S REPORT

Twice in the fifth inning, Gordon came within one strike of escaping with no further damage, but after each of those opportunities, a single and a walk followed, with the free pass to. Jordan Walker ending the day.

“I thought TG was good. The main issue of the day was the inability to put hitters away. A ton of two-strike counts. The Cardinals scored nine runs with two outs,” Schaeffer said.

“You have to learn from that and learn to put hitters away when they have two strikes.”

Gordon officially had no decision; Herget took the loss and fell to 0-6.

BITS AND PIECES

IT WAS DECIDED FOR THE ROCKIES WHEN: Johnston — who represented the potential tying run — struck out for the fourth time in five at-bats Sunday.

NUMBER TO NOTE: 24 — Runs scored by each team over the course of the three-game series. The Rockies also recorded their fifth-consecutive double-digit hit day.

WHAT’S NEXT: A Labor Day respite before starting a three-game series at Yankee Stadium on Tuesday. Gabriel Hughes will start the series opener in search of his first major-league win; All-Star right-hander Cam Schlittler will start for New York. First pitch from the Bronx is scheduled for 5:05 p.m. MDT.

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