That was him. Padres hitting coach from 2016-18.

What a difference a road trip can make.

#Rockies roared into the weekend at .500 (6-6) with big news about the Penner Sports Group joining ownership.

Then came a pair of walk-off losses to start a four-game sweep at the hands of the Padres. Back on a 100-loss pace (6-10, .375).

It’s a two-homer night for #Rockies Mickey Moniak, who moves into a tie for 2nd-most in MLB with five home runs.

Moniak has two multi-homer performances this year (also: 4/5) and two in his last four games at Petco Park (also: 9/14/25).

Germán Márquez, now with the Padres and pitching against his former club for the first time, surrenders a first-inning homer to Mickey Moniak.

Moniak leads the #Rockies with four home runs in his first nine games of 2026.

On this date in 2018, #Rockies Nolan Arenado took umbrage with the Padres’ Luis Perdomo, charged the mound and sparked a bench-clearing incident.

Arenado, Gerardo Parra and Germán Márquez from Colorado were ejected as were Perdomo and A.J. Ellis from San Diego.

#Rockies manager Warren Schaeffer has used his bench a lot more than his predecessor, Bud Black.

Schaeffer pushes the right buttons and gets a pair of pinch-hit, RBI-singles from Hunter Goodman and Jordan Beck in the 8th to tie it 2-2 with the Padres.

Will the Penner Sports Group enable the Colorado Rockies to invest more in infrastructure and roster?

We’ll all have to wait and see. If so and they want to make a big splash, there’s one player that would make for quite the cannonball this offseason:

Bo Bichette, son of Dante

Greg and Carrie Penner of the Penner Sports Group, owners of the Denver Broncos, on becoming the largest minority owner of the Colorado Rockies:

“While our focus remains firmly on the Broncos, we look forward to being supportive, long-term partners of the Rockies and Major League Baseball.”

In case you didn’t stay up until nearly midnight…

#Rockies unable to get above .500 as they lose to the Padres on a walk-off grand slam in extra innings to snap a four-game win streak.

#Rockies RHP Chase Dollander has looked rather good in his last two outings, both against clubs who made the 2025 MLB Postseason (PHI, SD):

8.2 IP
8 H
2 R (2.08 ERA)
2 BB (1.15 WHIP)
9 K

#Rockies Hunter Goodman was not happy about getting plunked up and in (95.1 mph) by Randy Vazquez of the Padres.

Goodman exits the 1-1 game in San Diego with a bloody right middle finger.

Haven’t seen this kind of emotion from Colorado in a while. A good kind of frustration for once.

Colorado is 6-6 and one game back of a Wild Card. However, just two NL teams (SF, WAS) have less wins.

Why? The NL is dominating the AL in interleague play.

Only two AL clubs (NYY, CLE) have a winning record in against the NL. And only two NL clubs (PHI, SF) are below .500 against the AL.

One of the most interesting parts to the Rockies four-game winning streak:

A different reliever not only earned the save in each game, but it was their first save of the season.

4/5 vs. PHI, Vodnik
4/6 vs. HOU, Mejia
4/7 vs. HOU, Senzatela
4/8 vs. HOU, Agnos

Guess who’s 6-3 since March 30 with a pair of series wins?

The Colorado Rockies

With another new all-time low at Coors Field - 15,189 paid attendance on Wednesday - #Rockies get 48,818 for the entire Astros series.

Home opener had 48,366 for one game.

Another metric of success for Colorado:

Tuesday marked the first time in 2026 the #Rockies and all four of their Minor
League affiliates won on the same day.

That happened only twice in 2025 with the first occurrence on August 2.

The Colorado Rockies are currently tied for 2nd place in the NL West.

They’ve won three in a row and have already secured their second series win of the season.

Last year, the #Rockies didn’t have their 5th win until April 30th and didn’t win their second series until mid-June.

Early results from ABS Challenges turns up #Rockies Hunter Goodman twice.

When batting: 2nd-worst
When catching: 3rd-best

Every modest reaction from #Rockies OF/1B Troy Johnston after a base hit reminds me of Michael Jordan's bodyguard from The Last Dance.

Through the first 13 games of the season, no team has less successful challenges while batting than the Colorado Rockies (14%).

The Milwaukee Brewers have also won one challenge, but have a higher overall success rate (17%).

Kyle Karros is the only Rockie to win a challenge.

Opening weekend attendance at Coors Field for the Colorado Rockies was up 5,340 per game over the first three games of last season.

Only the two 2025 ALCS clubs - Toronto Blue Jays and Seattle Mariners - have experienced a higher increase in home attendance at this early stage.

#Rockies bust out with an 8-run inning, most this year, highlighted by a two-run triple by 1B TJ Rumfield.

It's Colorado's first three-bagger, second latest for a first triple behind only 2023.

What also makes this surprising: Rumfield is in the 14th percentile in sprint speed.

#Rockies Hunter Goodman's single in the first on Sunday was the 200,000th base hit given up by the Philadelphia Phillies, a franchise that dates back to 1883.

Philly is the first team in MLB to give up 200K hits.

Credit to Evan Salvino for alerting me to this fact.

The starting lineup for the Colorado Rockies the last time they had a Japanese-born starting pitcher at Coors Field (Sept 3, 2000) brings back some memories.

It took until their third game for the Rockies to homer at home. A solo shot from Mickey Moniak on Easter.

That got me thinking: Who hit the first home run at Coors Field in 2025?

If you remembered that it was Sean Bouchard, you're a real one.

Don't adjust your dial. #Rockies have hit two home runs in the first inning.

Mickey Moniak and TJ Rumfield

Colorado has their first lead at Coors Field this season, 3-0 up on the Phillies.

Tomoyuki Sugano gets the start for the Colorado #Rockies. He the first Japanese-born starting pitcher to take the mound for the Rox at Coors Field in over 25 years.

The last:

Masato Yoshii, 9/3/2000

For those curious, #Rockies RHP Tomoyuki Sugano has "Golden" by Huntrix as his walkout music.

#Rockies Tyler Freeman has been scratched from Sunday’s lineup against the Phillies.

Warren Schaeffer said the lower back issues Freeman has been having will likely need to be managed all season.

It’s been 679 days since the Rockies last defeated the Phillies on May 26, 2024.

Colorado is 0-9 since then against Philadelphia while the rest of Denver teams are 8-1 over Philly in all other major sports:

Broncos 1-0 vs. Eagles
Nuggets 4-0 vs. 76ers
Avalanche 3-1 vs Flyers