I am weird, you are weird. Everyone in the world is weird. One day two people come together in mutual weirdness and fall in love — Dr. Seuss
When two very bad baseball teams — say the Colorado Rockies and the Los Angeles Angels — play a series, the stage is set for weirdness. That first became clear in Game 1 (e.g., ten walks, four errors, and an MLB review to decide the game in the bottom of the ninth).
The trend continued in Game 2 as the Rockies soundly defeated the Angels, 8-2, scoring back-to-back series wins in the process. They last had back-to-back series wins in August 2025.
The offense: Oh, the places you’ll go!
Tonight, the Rockies offense was (mostly) cooking.
After a sleepy first inning, Hunter Goodman got things rolling in the second with a leadoff home run, his 15th of the season.
Troy Johnston followed that up with a double and error on Jo Adell that allowed him to move to third with no outs. An Ezequiel Tovar sacrifice fly scored Johnson, and the Rockies had a 2-0 lead with one out in the second inning.
Grayson Rodriguez walked the next two batters, Kyle Karros and Sterlin Thompson. Between the errors and the walks, Game 2 began to have terrifying echoes of Game 1. Edouard Julien singled to scored Karros, and the Rockies had a 3-0 lead when the second inning had concluded.
Nothing of note happened in the third, but the fourth inning saw the Rockies on the move again.
After Rodriquez recorded two quick outs, he issued three singles, which resulted in Jake McCarthy scoring Kyle Karros. A throwing error allowed by Wade Meckler put McCarthy on second. And then Willi Castro (3) got everyone taco’s with a three-run homer.
Because this is a Rockies-Angels game, it involved walks, errors, and general weirdness. That happened when TJ Rumfield stepped up to the plate following Castro and hit a very strange home run, his eighth of the season.
And that was it for Grayson Rodriguez. He finished with 3.2 IP, allowing eight runs (all earned) on eight hits. He walked three, struck out two, and allowed three home runs on 91 pitches. He currently has a 10.00 ERA.
The Angels got on the board in the fifth inning. Tomoyuki Sugano got two quick outs, but struggled for the third. After allowing a double and a walk, Meckler got the Halos on the board with a double, and the score was 8-2. Sugano allowed two more runners to get on base before getting the final out.
And with that, his evening was done.
Though there was a bit on on-base traffic, things settled down for the Rockies after the fourth inning. However, this 13-pitch at-bat from Sterlin Thompson in the seventh merits some “Hang it in the Denver Art Museum” treatment.
For those keeping score at home, that’s the longest at-bat by a Rockie this season.
The offense stirred in the ninth inning when, with one out, Goodman doubled, and Troy Johnston followed up with a walk. However, the Rockies were unable to capitalize.
In terms of the final numbers, it was a good night to be Hunter Goodman, who went 2-for-4 with two hits including a home run, a double, and a walk.
The Rockies finished the evening with eight runs on 12 hits. They had five walks and eight strikeouts and were 4-for-11 with runners in scoring position.
Manager Warren Schaeffer commended Hunter Goodman’s performance.
The Rockies challenge going forward? “Playing day by day,” Schaeffer said, pointing to the length of the season.
Tomoyuki Sugano: Great day for up!
For Sugano, it was another solid outing, marred by a struggle to get the last out in the fifth inning, but still the kind of performance the Rockies have come to expect from him.
His final line was 5.0 IP and two runs (both earned) allowed on five hits. He walked two and struck out five on 96 pitches.
Sugano’s currrent ERA is 3.98.
“I thought his splinter was excellent today,” Schaeffer said, though he commented on a lack of efficiency. Still, “he did a nice job.”
The bullpen: One fish, two fish, red fish, blue fish
In the sixth inning, it was time to bullpen.
Blas Castaño entered the game in relief of Sugano and pitched two perfect innings in which he allowed no hits, runs, or walks. He also finished his evening by striking out Mike Trout swinging.
His current ERA is 4.15. Carry on, Blas! Carry on.
On the less-weird-but-still-very-cool side, TJ Shook made his MLB debut. His first out was a fly ball to left field. Following that, Vaughn Grissom hit a double, and Shook followed that by throwing three straight balls to Jo Adell before earning a called strike.
Then Chad Stevens turned a gorgeous unassisted double play. (Unfortunately, MLB has not provided video.)
Juan Mejia handled the ninth. He allowed one hit, but no damage.
In total, Rockies pitching allowed two runs (both earned) on seven hits.
And to think that I saw it on Mulberry Street!
Please enjoy this Ezequiel Tovar highlight.
That’s the kind of play expected from a Gold Glove shortstop.
Join us tomorrow night for Game 3 when the The Cat in the Hat comes back, and the Rockies go for the sweep!
Michael Lorenzen will face Walbert Ureña.
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