Colorado Rockies game no. 111 thread: Mitch Keller vs. Bradley Blalock

Can the Rockies complete the sweep?

The Colorado Rockies have completed back-to-back comeback wins against the Pittsburgh Pirates in the last two days. On Friday, they erased a 9-0 first-inning deficit and went on to win 17-16 in an instant Coors Classic. Yesterday, they erased a 4-0 deficit by scoring six runs in the sixth on their way to an 8-5 victory against the formidable Paul Skenes. With the win yesterday, the Rockies have now won three home series in a row, and have back-to-back series wins for the first time since September 13-18, 2024. Prior to the All-Star Break, the Rockies had won just two series period — June 2-4 at Miami and June 16-19 at Washington. If they win today, they will complete their second sweep of the season (they swept the Marlins in June) and it would mark their first home sweep since May 10-12, 2024 against the Texas Rangers.

Ahead of today’s game, they made a flurry of roster moves. Seth Halvorsen suffered an elbow injury last night, so he was placed on the 15-day IL. Michael Toglia was also optioned to Triple-A Albuquerque with the emergence of Warming Bernabel as a viable option at first. In their place, the Rockies recalled Nick Anderson and Braxton Fulford. Additionally, they claimed infielder Blaine Crim off waivers from the Texas Rangers.

Bradley Blalock (1-2, 7.09 ERA) will take the ball for the Rockies as they attempt to sweep the Pirates. It will mark Blalock’s career-high ninth start of 2025. He was outstanding in his last start against the Cleveland Guardians, tossing six scoreless innings and striking out a career-high seven batters. He also became the second Rockies rookie to ever pitch at least six scoreless innings with seven or more strikeouts and zero walks since Jon Gray’s 16-strikeout game against the San Diego Padres on September 17, 2016. Today will mark Blalock’s first-career start against the Pirates.

He will face Mitch Keller (4-10, 3.69 ERA), who is not Paul Skenes but still a dangerous number two. He was the Pirates’ Opening Day starter in 2023 and 2024. He got roughed up in his last outing, though, allowing three runs on five hits with three walks and three strikeouts over just two innings against the San Francisco Giants. He threw 73 pitches — the most through two innings of a start in his career — and it marked his shorted start since August 16, 2022 against the Boston Red Sox. Keller has made four appearances (three starts) against the Rockies in his career and is 2-1 with a 0.39 ERA against them. He last faced them on May 8, 2023 when he threw a four-hit shutout at PNC Park, but has only made one start at Coors Field on July 16, 2022 when he allowed just one unearned run over six innings but lost a 2-0 decision.

Can the Rockies complete the sweep today?

First Pitch: 1:10 p.m. MT

TV: Rockies.tv

Radio: KOA 850 AM/94.1 FM, KNRV 1150 AM (Spanish)

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