Tuesday Rockpile: Seven of the most memorable Colorado Rockies games in 2024

Colorado Rockies news and links for Tuesday, December 31, 2024

New Year’s Eve is always a time of reflection, looking back over what happened in the previous year to savor the good things and create strategies for addressing the bad.

So should it be for the Colorado Rockies. I’ll leave to the front office the plan for improvement in 2025, but these are some of the games that stood out in 2024. I’ll follow that with a few individual highlights that strike me as worth remembering.

Some memorable games

March 28: Diamondbacks 16, Rockies 1 (Chase Field)

This was not (at all) the Opening Day the Rockies wanted.

Granted, the Arizona Diamondbacks were coming off a World-Series appearance, but not many expected the opener to be quite this bad for the Rockies. Kyle Freeland would get absolutely scorched in the third inning, and it would take a few games for the Rockies to find their footing. They would lose three of four games in that serious and go on to subsequently be swept by the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field.

The game did not portend good things for the 2024 Colorado Rockies.

(H/T to Kevin Henry for the reminder.)

May 15: Rockies 8, Padres 9 (Petco Park)

In all of 2024, Rockies pitching would have only one shutout, and it happened against the San Diego Padres when the Rockies were on a six-game winning streak.

Austin Gomber, Justin Lawrence, Nick Mears, and Peter Lambert combined to get it done along with a robust offense led by Jordan Beck, who almost hit for the cycle.

(H/T to Kevin Henry for this one, too.)

May 23: A’s 10, Rockies 9 (11) (Oakland Coliseum)

Here’s a familiar story: The Rockies look like they’ve got everything under control — then they don’t. Ryan Feltner and the Rockies headed into the seventh of this one with a 4-0 lead.

And then the bullpen entered the game.

The A’s scored in the seventh, eighth (twice), and ninth to take the game into extras with a score tied 4-4. The Rockies took the lead, 5-4, in the 10th, but the A’s scored, too, to add another inning.

It looked like the Rockies would win it in the 11th by scoring four more runs, but the Athletics did not give up. After Matt Koch gave up four more runs without recording a single out, Peter Lambert finished the game by giving up a walk-off walk on four pitches (after facing six total batters).

Also, in this series, Kris Bryant suffered the first of numerous injuries that would limit him to just 37 games in 2024.

May 31, 2024, Rockies 4, Dodgers 1 (Dodger Stadium)

The Rockies have struggled to find wins when playing the Dodgers in Los Angeles.

But when they rolled into Dodger Stadium for the first of a three-game stand at the end of May, the Rockies beat the 2024 World Champions behind the pitching of (ready for this?) Dakota Hudson.

It was their first win in LA since 2022.

(H/T to Sam Bradfield for the reminder.)

June 18: Dodgers 11, Rockies 9 (Coors Field)

Herein lies the origin story of “Jake Cave: Man of the People.” (All credit goes to Blake Street Banter for this one).

Four days earlier, Cave had been hit in the head by a fly ball during batting practice, but that night, he would become a LoDo legend (kind of).

The Rockies led the Dodgers 9-4 headed into the ninth before Jason Heyward hit a grand slam, making the score 9-8. The Dodgers got Shohei Ohtani on base before the Rockies intentionally walked Freddie Freeman. Then, Teoscar Hernández came to the plate. Victor Vodnik pitched to a 1-2 count before getting what appeared to be the third strike, an elevated fastball that Hernández swung at before pulling back.

“No strike,” signaled first base umpire Lance Barksdale. (He was wrong.)

On the next pitch, Hernández hit a home run, and Cave became epically unglued.

It was an outburst that would go viral in the baseball world.

Watch the entire game recap here:

(H/T to Evan Lang and Patrick Lyons for bringing up this game.)

July 24: Rockies 20, Red Sox 7 (Coors Field)

Don’t let the score fool you. Sure it was a Coorsy blowout (including Brenton Doyle’s first grand slam), but the real action happened when starting pitcher Cal Quantrill celebrated after striking out Reese McGuire.

It had to do with, well, Quantrill’s decision to bring up a run-in with the law McGuire had as a younger man. The Rockies went on to win the game handily, but there were rumors after the game that one of the Red Sox players had attempted to track Quantrill down as the Rockies were leaving to catch a flight to San Francisco.

(It was my first time to see a benches-clearing brawl in person, and I’m here to tell you that it’s a chaotic mess when it happens because no one knows what’s going on.)

August 11: Rockies 3, Braves 1 (Truist Park)

Sure the Rockies struck 43 times over the course of the three-game series (the most Ks by Atlanta pitching in franchise history) and lost two of three games to lose the series, but in this game, it did not matter. Austin Gomber threw eight innings of one-hit baseball, and Michael Toglia and Ezequiel Tovar managed to go yard.

What was interesting about it? This game showed what Michael Toglia can do — and despite all those Ks, Ezequiel Tovar continues to get hits.

(H/T to Skyler Timmins for this one.)

Thanks to the folks who helped me create this list — the games can tend to blur together for me.

Some additional notable moments

• Germán Márquez clearly did not have the comeback season he’d hoped for, but on July 17th against the New York Mets, he became the Rockies’ all-time strikeout leader when he hit #986 against Pete Alonso.

• The Rockies defense remained stellar, thanks in large part to Brenton Doyle, who loves himself a good robbery. Enjoy a few highlights from Rockies outfielders.

• Cy Young winter Tarik Skubal only gave up just 15 homers in 2024, but one of them was to Jordan Beck.

• The Rockies led MLB in turning double plays in 2024 (1.01/game).

• Let’s not forget Nick Mears’ revelation after becoming a Milwaukee Brewer that he learned he was tipping pitches.

Even though this was not a great season for the Rockies, there were some epic moments: Todd Helton was inducted into the Hall of Fame, Trevor Story returned to Coors Field, and Charlie Blackmon made his last run to center field.

So, those are my picks for 2024’s most memorable games and moments, and I look forward to learning about yours in the comments!

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On the internet

I thought this was an interesting question:

For me, I’m just gonna say it: The ghost runner absolutely rules and should continue to be the standard for every regular-season games. (Postseason games, however, should revert to the old rules.)

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The Rockies made plenty of dubious history in 2024 | Purple Row

This is not a new article, but it’s keeping with the spirit of the day. Skyler Timmins recaps some low points of the Rockies’ 2024 season.

Rockies Sign Diego Castillo To Minors Deal | MLB Trade Rumors

As a reminder, there are no bad MiLB contracts.

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Happy New Year

From those of us at Purple Row, here’s to 2024! Thanks for following along with us on this very strange journey that is being a Colorado Rockies fan. However you’re ringing in the New Year, be safe, and have a great time.

And with that, I’ll turn things over to Fiddler’s Green.

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