Rockies allow 50 hits in four-game sweep against Philadelphia
The Colorado Rockies continued their treacherous May schedule, getting swept in a four-game series against the Philadelphia Phillies. While the Phillies are in an early-season division race with the New York Mets, the Rockies are trying everything to not become the worst team in MLB history. It was their second meeting of 2025, with Philly taking all three wins in their series this April.
Game One
Kyle Freeland got his tenth start on May 19 and had his best showing in nearly a month, holding the menacing Philadelphia lineup to one score in five and a third innings. He stuck out six batters, his most since sitting seven on Opening Day, and took his ERA down to 5.68. He’s still searching for his first pitching win of 2025, as a late bullpen collapse cost the team a victory.
Ezequiel Tovar tallied two RBIs in the first three innings on Monday, off his second home run of the year in the first and an RBI single in the third. Game one marked the third time in his career that he’s hit home runs in consecutive games, combining for seven hits and four RBIs his last two times in the lineup.
The Rox led game one from the first to the seventh inning, but four Philly runs in the eighth and an additional three in the ninth turned this game into a landslide. Seth Halvorsen blew his eighth-inning outing, giving up four runs off five hits while retiring only two batters. In the ninth, Philadelphia’s Kyle Schwarber logged his 300th career home run, becoming the 11th active player to join the club. The Phillies ended with 17 hits and handed the Rockies a 9-3 loss.
“Probably not,” Schwarber answered postgame after asked if his 12-year-old self would ever imagine 300 career home runs. “I’m just grateful to be in the big leagues and be around a great group of guys. It’s been a cool journey, but I’m excited to do a lot more and we got a lot more to accomplish.”
Game Two
Colorado fell down 3-0 in the first inning of game two, and Rox starter Antonio Senzatela gave up another 10 hits in his six-inning showing. Since the beginning of the year, Senzatela’s been surrendering base knocks left and right, averaging 15.4 hits per nine innings and has the most allowed by any starting pitcher in the league this year with 84.
Jordan Beck snapped his career-longest 17-game on-base streak, going 0-for-5 with a trio of punch outs. However, Tyler Freeman made up for Beck’s struggles, earning his first three-hit game as a Rockie.
Jimmy Herget’s prolonged 2.2 innings out of the bullpen wasn’t enough to salvage the game, as the Rockies fell 7-4. Philly tacked on five more hits off Herget bringing their game total to another 17.
Game Three
The Rockies gave ninth overall prospect Carson Palmquist the nod after getting called-up last week to start in game one against Arizona. Although he got Schwarber’s number striking him out twice, Palmquist gave up 10 hits and seven runs. Colorado had to go to the bullpen after his four and a third innings, where Philly tacked on two more and put the game out of reach thanks to back-to-back home runs from Trea Turner and Bryce Harper.
Beck, Tovar and Hunter Goodman merged for six hits at the top of the lineup, and Nick Martini got his first home run as a Rockie in the fourth.
Colorado had three errors in their 9-5 loss, the fifth time they’ve finished with three or more. The defense leads the league with 0.88 errors per game, with the Boston Red Sox in second at 0.78.
Game Four
The Rockies were fighting in game four to not get swept for the eighth time in 2025. It was a pitchers duel between Colorado’s Germán Márquez and Philly’s Ranger Suárez, who has jumped in and out of NL Cy Young conversations for the last two years. Márquez outlasted Suárez in the seventh while giving up two fewer hits, but it was ultimately Suárez who captured his third win on the season tossing a shutout.
Six out of the Rockies’ seven hits on the game came from Beck, Tovar and Brenton Doyle, who hit the first triple of his year and went 5-for-12 in the full four game series with three extra base hits. Even after some hard-fought at bats, Colorado was unable to score in the series finale, losing 2-0.
Interim Manager Warren Schaeffer was asked about the Rockies fighting at the plate despite the shutout.
“Battling with two strikes, fouling pitches off, [and] being relentless with two strikes,” Schaeffer said. “But also early in the count, in-zone, putting the ball in play hard … for the most part we’re promoting grind, [and] battle.”
Schaeffer has begun his tenure 1-9, getting swept by the Texas Rangers and now the Phillies. The lone win came from a wild 14-12 grudge in game two against the Diamondbacks.
The four straight losses brought the Rockies record to a nauseating 8-42. Forty two losses in their first 50 games is the most in MLB’s Modern Era, not to mention their seventh loss of 2025 to the Phillies alone.
Colorado miraculously beat the New York Yankees 3-2 in game one on Friday, and look to capture their first series win on Saturday.