DENVER - The Rockies had chances early, had chances late and still walked off the field with another home loss Saturday, a 4-3 defeat to the Guardians that stretched their skid at Coors Field to eight straight.
The frustration started almost immediately. Colorado put two runners on with one out in the first inning against Guardians right-hander Tanner Bibee, but TJ Rumfield struck out and Kyle Karros grounded to first. In the second, Troy Johnston moved to second with two outs, only for Zac Veen to go down on strikes.
Those missed openings loomed even larger once Gabriel Hughes hit a rough patch in the fourth. After opening the inning with a walk to Chase DeLauter, Hughes gave up a three-run homer to Jo Adell two batters later. That swing spoiled an otherwise steady outing from the Rockies starter, who worked five innings on his 25th birthday.
Colorado has been searching for signs that its 2026 season is moving in the right direction after last year’s 43-119 finish, and there have been some. If the Rockies win 13 more games, they can avoid a fourth straight 100-loss season. They also just finished a 5-4 road trip, their longest of the year.
But at home, the results keep disappearing. The current slide includes three losses to the Rays, three to the Dodgers and now two to Cleveland.
During that stretch, the Rockies have held exactly two leads. One came in the ninth inning of a 9-7, 10-inning loss to the Rays on Aug. 4, when Jordan Romano suffered his only blown save since joining Colorado on July 4.
The other came Friday, when the Rockies scored first but lost 9-1 after failing to cash in on seven Cleveland walks.
Saturday brought more of the same. Rumfield, Karros and Veen all came up empty in the first three innings. Johnston did drive in a run with a two-out double in the fourth, and he reached third when Brett Sullivan lined out to center, but Colorado still finished the inning 0-for-4 with runners in scoring position.
That has been the story of the skid. The Rockies are 15-for-68 with runners in scoring position during the stretch, a .221 clip.
Cleveland did better with its chances on Saturday, going 2-for-6 in those spots. Adell’s homer and Patrick Bailey’s RBI single with two on in the sixth did the damage.
“We play nine innings for a reason - the first inning is just as important as the ninth inning in terms of runs scored,” manager Warren Schaeffer said. “We made Bibee work tonight in the first inning - upwards of 30 pitches - but nothing to show for it.
"We’re going to have to be able to put something up there just to get the game rolling.”
There were a few bright spots. Mickey Moniak hit his 21st home run of the season, his second in the last two games.
Connor Norby added a leadoff homer in the ninth, his fifth of the year and his first since the Rockies got him from the Marlins at the Trade Deadline. Still, those swings came with the bases empty, and Colorado has been left trying to manufacture offense without the kind of timely hit that changes a game.
The homestand has also come without Hunter Goodman, who has 34 homers.
Hughes, meanwhile, didn’t take the loss. He said his focus had been on attacking the zone and getting ahead early.
“That was a big focus this week, just attacking the zone,” Hughes said. “Getting strike one. I need to just carry that to the next start, keep attacking earlier in the count.”
He allowed the Adell homer after the walk to DeLauter and after falling behind José Ramírez. Hughes said the pitch that Adell hit was a sweeper he wanted farther outside.
“A leadoff walk is never going to help,” he said. “Falling behind Ramírez is never going to help.
And throwing a sweeper out of the zone - probably a little too close - I paid for it. Mistakes come back to haunt you.”
The bigger issue for Colorado is what keeps happening around him. Rockies starters now have a 9.68 ERA during the skid, and the home losses keep piling up no matter how competitive the first few innings look.
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