Rockies rout Athletics 23-9 in Las Vegas to avoid series sweep

The Colorado Rockies closed out a three-game series in the Nevada desert with a 23-9 blowout of the Athletics on Sunday, avoiding a sweep and putting an exclamation point on one of the more aerially eventful series of the young summer.

What happened

Per Yahoo Sports, the Rockies defeated the Athletics 23-9 at Las Vegas Ballpark — the Triple-A home of the Las Vegas Aviators — in the finale of a three-game set. The Athletics were using the venue to host six games total, offering local fans a preview of what full-time big-league baseball in Sin City will eventually look like. Across those six games, the two clubs combined to hit 35 home runs. Sunday's blowout contributed its share to that total.

The venue itself is worth a moment's pause. Las Vegas Ballpark sits in Summerlin, Nevada, under what Yahoo Sports described as a clear desert sky and scorching sun. It is a Triple-A facility, which means the dimensions, the altitude, and the afternoon heat all conspire to make a baseball behave in ways that would give any pitching coach a mild headache. Thirty-five home runs across six games is the kind of number that makes you wonder whether the ball was juiced or the air simply forgot to push back.

Why it matters

For a Rockies club that entered Sunday's game with a 58-104 record — already eliminated from both the NL West division race and the Wild Card race, sitting 42 games back in the division and ranked 12th in Wild Card positioning at 30.0 relative to the cut line — a 23-9 win does not move the needle on the standings. What it does is provide a rare afternoon of offensive abundance for a roster that has spent most of 2026 on the wrong side of lopsided scores.

Avoiding a sweep also carries its own quiet dignity. The Rockies have not had many opportunities this season to close out a series on a high note, and doing so with 23 runs — in a ballpark that was already playing generously — at least gives the traveling party something to talk about on the flight to Chicago.

There is also the matter of Tomoyuki Sugano, who started Sunday's game for Colorado. Per Yahoo Sports, Sugano gave up a multi-run home run on Sunday — the first of that variety he had allowed all season. Each of his previous 12 home runs surrendered had been solo shots. That streak ending in Las Vegas, in a game his team won by 14 runs, is the kind of footnote that gets buried in the box score but is worth noting for anyone tracking how Sugano has been used and how his profile has held up. Yahoo Sports frames it as a moment the unthinkable arrived for the right-hander, while also noting he got the job done — so the broader shape of his outing was functional, even as the desert had its way with him at least once.

The numbers

The Rockies carry a 58-104 record into the road trip, good for fifth place in the NL West and 42 games behind the division leader. Their Wild Card standing sits at rank 12, with a figure of 30.0 relative to the cut line — a number that, in context, functions less as a countdown and more as a statement of where the season has arrived. The club enters Monday on a one-game losing streak, the Sunday win having snapped whatever preceded it.

The six-game Las Vegas series produced 35 combined home runs between the two clubs, per Yahoo Sports. That figure is the clearest statistical artifact of what the venue and conditions produced over the stretch.

Where the club stands

The Rockies are 58-104 (.358), fifth in the NL West, and have been eliminated from both the division race and the Wild Card race. They are 42 games back in the division and sit 30.0 games below the Wild Card cut line at rank 12. The Sunday win snapped a one-game skid.

Colorado now departs Las Vegas for a road series at Wrigley Field. Michael Lorenzen is the probable starter for Monday's opener against the Chicago Cubs, with Shota Imanaga projected to start for Chicago. Tuesday's game is projected to feature Ryan Feltner for Colorado against Edward Cabrera for the Cubs. Wrigley Field, it should be noted, has its own opinions about baseballs in flight — though the wind direction on any given afternoon tends to be the deciding vote, and no one has yet found a way to schedule that.

What we don't know yet

Yahoo Sports does not provide Sugano's complete line from Sunday — innings pitched, total runs allowed, or how the outing concluded. The full offensive accounting for the Rockies' 23 runs, including individual contributions beyond the brief mentions of outfielder Cole Carrigg and right fielder Sterlin Thompson in the game imagery, is not detailed in the available material. Whether Sunday's offensive eruption reflects anything beyond the Las Vegas venue and conditions is not addressed by Yahoo Sports, and the desk is not in the business of speculating either way.

The Athletics' situation — specifically how the remaining Las Vegas home games fit into their broader schedule and transition timeline — is noted in passing by Yahoo Sports but not elaborated upon further.

What to watch

The Rockies open a road series at Wrigley Field on Monday, with Lorenzen projected to start against Imanaga. After a six-game stretch in a hitter-friendly Triple-A venue, the move to one of the sport's most weather-dependent ballparks offers a natural reset point. Feltner follows on Tuesday against Cabrera.

For Sugano specifically, Monday's off day gives way to a rotation that will be worth monitoring after his first multi-run home run allowed this season. Yahoo Sports frames it as a footnote in a comfortable win, but it is the kind of development that tends to resurface in conversation the next time a ball leaves the yard off him — wherever that happens to be.