Eli Whitney | June 21, 2026
Bryan Reynolds has reached base safely in 27 straight games, the longest active streak in the National League, and on Sunday afternoon at Coors Field, he made sure everyone remembered why. His three-run homer in the seventh inning capped a five-run Pittsburgh outburst that turned a competitive game into an 8-1 laugher. The Pirates held on from there, beating the Rockies 8-6 and salvaging the finale of a three-game series that Colorado had a real chance to sweep.
The Rockies managed one hit through six innings against Jared Jones and the relievers who followed him – Jones himself left after three innings when a comebacker struck his throwing elbow, ending what had already become a rough recent stretch of short outings. But for six innings, none of it mattered, because Colorado’s bats were dormant against everyone Pittsburgh threw at them. Then, suddenly, in the final three frames, the Rockies put together five runs and seven hits – too little, in the end, to complete the sweep, but enough to turn what looked like a laugher into something that mattered until the final out.
TJ Rumfield supplied the most meaningful piece of the rally, a three-run in the eighth that pulled Colorado within four. It was his 12th homer of the season and his fourth in his last seven games – part of a stretch since mid-June where he’s hitting .357 with ten extra-base hits over his last eleven games. His name has started showing up in National League Rookie of the Year conversations, a development he treats with the same even keel he treats everything else.
“It’s just outside noise,” he said afterward. “It has nothing to do with how I’m going to prepare for tomorrow.”
Warren Schaeffer was less restrained when asked to make the case for him.
“He’s doing it in all facets of the game,” Schaeffer said. “His defense has been outstanding. The consistency of the at-bats, the walks, the ability to play every day – that’s what good players do. The only thing he doesn’t do is steal bases.”
Michael Lorenzen took the loss despite throwing five-plus innings for the third straight start, a stretch in which he posted a 3.52 ERA with 17 strikeouts.
He allowed four earned runs on seven hits, including a two-run homer to Nick Gonzales in the fourth, and was visibly frustrated afterward – not with his stuff, which looked crisp, but with his inability to finish hitters off when he had them in good counts.
“I let too many guys off the hook,” he said. “If I could have just executed one pitch to a lot of those guys, we’re in a much better spot as a team.”
Schaeffer saw it differently in the moment, calling it another building block.
“I thought Mike was good,” he said. “He was efficient, got ahead in counts.”
John Brebbia made his Rockies debut and delivered exactly what the bullpen needed in a game that had otherwise slipped away – two scoreless innings, efficient and unafraid of contact, the kind of veteran presence that Warren Schaeffer was eager to talk about afterward.
“John has been around for a while,” Schaeffer said. “He’s an absolute pleasure to have in a clubhouse. He’s going to go right at you with what he’s got.”
Cole Carrigg drew two walks and reached base three times, extending his on-base streak to seven games with a .483 OBP over that stretch – the kind of quiet, disciplined production that has defined his first weeks in the league.
The Rockies have now homered in 13 consecutive games, their longest streak since 2023, and sit at 30-48. Schaeffer brushed off any suggestion that the missed sweep represents some kind of pattern.
“Every game is its own separate entity,” he said. “We faced Jared Jones for three innings and didn’t do much. Every game is different.”
Whether that holds up under more scrutiny is a fair question for a team that has now blown four sweep opportunities by a combined 28 runs.
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