Denver, CO
Brenton Doyle, Tanner Gordon shine as Rockies beat reeling Braves
The usual suspects and one promising newcomer led the Rockies to a white-knuckle, 6-5, victory over the Braves Friday night at Coors Field.
The newbie is right-handed starter Tanner Gordon who set the tone for Colorado’s victory over the slumping Braves, who lost their sixth consecutive game.
The Rockies snapped their nine-game losing streak against the Braves, notching their win against the Braves since Aug. 30, 2022 (at Atlanta), and the first over the Braves at Coors since Sept. 4, 2021.
Center fielder Brenton Doyle, Colorado’s emerging star, and All-Star third baseman Ryan McMahon tag-teamed Atlanta reliever A.J. Minter to give the Rockies the go-ahead run in the seventh. Doyle led off, raking a double to left, and McMahon immediately followed with an RBI double to center.
Doyle also launched a two-run homer in the third, to join the 20-homer/20-stolen base club. Doyle has 21 steals. He didn’t shy away from the possibility of a 30/30 season, even though only 45 games remain in the season.
“It’s definitely in play still,” Doyle said. “I’ll just do my best to keep playing and keep pushing.”
Atlanta got the tying run to third in the ninth against closer Victor Vodnik but he struck out Austin Riley to clinch the game and notch his seventh save. Vodnik rebounded from a poor outing on Wednesday when he gave up three runs in a 5-3 defeat to the Mets.
Both Gordon and Vodnik were members of the Braves organization until they were traded in July 2023 for reliever Pierce Johnson. Neither player made a big deal of it.
“More than anything, I think it was exciting to play against the team I used to play for,” Gordon said.
If Gordon didn’t dominate the Braves, he certainly subdued them. He limited Atlanta to two runs on six hits over five innings. He struck out seven and didn’t walk any.
Marcell Ozuna tagged Gordon with a two-out, solo homer in the first, rocketing a 1-0 fastball 448 feet to center. But Gordon fanned Ozuna to end the fifth with his biggest out of the game.
“I just told myself to stay aggressive,” Gordon said.
Manager Bud Black was impressed with Gordon, who was coming off an excellent start at San Diego last Saturday when he allowed one run on one hit across six innings.
“He threw the ball well,” Black said. “His combination of pitches worked tonight. His fastball was sneaky. It was not quite as crispy as it was in San Diego, but his slider played tonight and he threw some good changeups.”
Atlanta had cut Colorado’s lead to 5-2 on a double by Jarred Kelenic and an RBI single by Whit Merrifield. When Jorge Soler dumped a broken-bat single into shallow left-center, the Braves had runners at the corners and just one out. Gordon got Riley to pop out to second baseman Brendan Rodgers in shallow right field, and then Gordon struck out the dangerous Ozuna on a nasty slider.
Doyle, the National League player of the month for July, continued his power surge. His two-run homer to center in Colorado’s three-run third traveled 432 feet. It was Doyle’s team-leading 20th homer of the season, doubling the 10 homers he mashed as a rookie in 2023. Doyle needed 431 at-bats to reach 10 dingers last season. He needed 456 to reach 20 this season.
Colorado tacked on another run in the third when McMahon walked, stole second and scored on Rodgers’ single. McMahon snapped his six-game and a 20 at-bat hitless streak, both his longest skids of the season.
An RBI double by Elias Diaz, followed by an RBI single by Charlie Blackmon, bumped up Colorado’s lead to 5-2 in the fourth.
The lead was erased in the seventh on a leadoff homer by Braves center fielder Ramon Lauerano off Justin Lawrence, and a two-run homer by Jorge Soler off Angel Chivilli.
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Saturday’s pitching matchup
Braves LHP Max Fried (7-6, 3.40 ERA) at Rockies RHP Dakota Hudson (0-3, 6.75)
6:10 p.m. Saturday, Coors Field
TV: Rockies.TV (streaming); Comcast/Xfinity (channel 1262); DirecTV (683); Spectrum (130, 445, 305, 435 or 445, depending on region).
Radio: 850 AM/94.1 FM
The Rockies will select Hudson’s contract from Triple-A Albuquerque so he can start Saturday’s game. The loss of right-hander Ryan Feltner to a shoulder injury prompted the move. Hudson, 29, started 17 games for the Rockies this season, but he struggled mightily and was outrighted to Albuquerque in early July after accumulating a 5.84 ERA and 1.64 WHIP — both the worst marks of his seven-year MLB career. Right-hander Cal Quantrill, originally scheduled to start Saturday’s game, will now start Monday night at Arizona.
The Braves are counting on Fried to keep them in the National League playoff hunt, but he’s struggling. After going on the injured list in mid-July because of elbow soreness, Fried pitched poorly against Miami in his first start back. Fried was rusty, matching a career-high with five walks over just 3 1/3 innings. He allowed five earned runs and four hits, including three in Miami’s six-run fourth. Fried has faced the Rockies five times (four starts), going 1-2 with a 3.00 ERA. He last beat the Rockies on April 9, 2019, at Coors Field, pitching six scoreless innings and fanning four in the Braves’ 7-1 victory.
Pitching probables
Sunday: Braves RHP Spencer Schwellenbach (4-5, 4.04) at Rockies LHP Kyle Freeland (3-5, 5.65), 6:10 p.m.
Monday: Rockies RHP Cal Quantrill (7-8, 4.56) at Diamondbacks RHP Brandon Pfaadt (6-6, 3.92), 7:40 p.m.
Originally Published:
Denver, CO
Claimed by Christ, Free in Him: Archbishop Golka Celebrates First Juneteenth Mass in Denver
The annual archdiocesan celebration highlighted human dignity, Black Catholic faith and the healing power of Christ’s love.
“This is my first Juneteenth celebration as a priest or a bishop. I’m honored that this could be my first, right here,” Denver Archbishop James Golka said during the Mass commemorating Juneteenth at Curé d’Ars Parish in Denver on Sunday, June 14.
Celebrating the day the Emancipation Proclamation reached enslaved African Americans in Galveston, Texas, Juneteenth marks the end of slavery in the United States. This year’s annual archdiocesan Mass, organized by the Office of Black Catholic Ministry and bringing together parishes and groups from across Northern Colorado, also served to welcome the recently arrived archbishop, who was warmly greeted with processions by the Knights of Peter Claver and Ladies Auxiliary, liturgical participation by the Curé d’Ars youth group and choir, and additional music by the Queen of Peace African Catholic Society.
“You have a very beautiful church here. The building is okay, also,” Archbishop Golka remarked, noting the beauty of the people of God, the Church, amid laughter and applause.
Carolyne Richardson, member of the Knights of Peter Claver Ladies Auxiliary at St. Ignatius of Loyola, was particularly touched by Golka’s quiet enthusiasm.
“The church was overflowing with diverse ethnicities joining in this celebration. Everyone was elated to meet Archbishop Golka. He seemed to look each parishioner in the eye with genuine care and concern,” she noted. “It was sheer jubilation watching him sing the gospel songs along with the choir.”
Recalling his time with fellow bishops at their annual spring meeting in Florida, the archbishop reflected on Pope Leo’s encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas, and its discussion on the reality of slavery.
“Although there was not always consistency in practice — slavery was long tolerated before being unequivocally condemned — there has been a continuous affirmation throughout history of the dignity of every human being created in the image of God, even if it took eighteen centuries for the full incompatibility with slavery to be explicitly recognized,” the Holy Father wrote. “This constitutes a wound in Christian memory, one for which we cannot consider ourselves detached. It is impossible not to feel deep sorrow when contemplating the immense suffering and humiliation endured by so many in stark contrast to their immeasurable dignity as persons infinitely loved by the Lord” (Magnifica Humanitas 176).
“Finally, Pope Leo says this to you, to all of us,” the archbishop noted as he finished quoting the Holy Father’s encyclical. “‘For this, in the name of the Church, I sincerely ask for pardon.”
(Photos by Matt Walker/Denver Catholic)
In his characteristically deeply pastoral way, Archbishop Golka offered the deep, personal love of Christ as a spiritual foundation and antidote to any and all attacks against humanity, be they in the form of slavery or the lurking dangers of artificial intelligence.
“At your Baptism, you were claimed by Jesus Christ. That’s our identity. The evil one tries to make us forget that. We forget that we are beloved children of God. We begin to think that maybe we are worthless, that there’s no reason why we’re here. That is a lie,” the archbishop emphasized. “When God created the universe, he had you in mind, to be here at this time, and this place for his purposes. And he wants to use you in everything. That means, he can use your weakness and your mistakes if you let him.”
The call to surrender more completely to the Lord of love, whose Sacred Heart burns in love for souls, resonated deeply with those in attendance.
“The Mass was more beautiful than I could have imagined,” said Kateri Williams, director of the Office of Black Catholic Ministry. “Archbishop Golka’s homily deeply touched those in attendance, and many were moved to tears as he spoke of the Father’s unconditional love and as he reminded us that each of us has a unique purpose and calling in God’s plan.”
Osahon “Osi” Ogbeide, one of several members of the Youth Ministry at Curé d’Ars who read the Prayers of the Faithful, was also taken by the seeming contradiction in Archbishop Golka’s homily.
“The homily focusing on being a slave and surrendering to the lord was very impactful because it reminded me that God wants the best for us. And that can only be achieved in surrendering to him,” he said.
As we continue to surrender to God and follow his plan, even when it surprises and confounds us, we participate in the Kingdom of God, the archbishop concluded.
“God’s purposes are much more immense than my plan. My plan is pretty puny,” Archbishop Golka said. “God’s purposes began with creation, and they’re going to the Second Coming of Jesus Christ and the Reign of God. We get to participate in the Reign of God coming, if you use God’s gifts for God and God’s purposes.”
Factors such as declining birth rates and families moving out of the city are contributing to declining enrollment at Denver Public Schools. In turn, it’s reshaping the district’s future.
“I think we’re in a good position, but it’s responsible for us to always be looking in the future and knowing we have to make some adjustments,” said Chuck Carpenter, the district’s CFO.
In a two-year span between this past school year and next, DPS expects a decline in enrollment of around 1,700 students.
“We haven’t really seen anything like this,” said Carpenter in response to the consistent decline.
Because of this trend, the district is facing a $28 million structural deficit over the next five years.
“We have a balanced budget now, and we’re not predicting that we’ll have an unbalanced budget in three years,” said Carpenter. “We’re saying we need to make adjustments over the next three, four years, so that our budgets are balanced.”
DPS’s Director of Campus Planning, Andrew Huber, told CBS Colorado in an interview last month that those adjustments will likely include closing down more schools.
“Additional school closures will be necessary in the upcoming years. When exactly that would be is hard to forecast right now,” said Huber.
The district’s CFO says his biggest takeaway from a recent round of closures is to make sure to give families options for what’s next.
“No one wants their school closed, but the second-best option isn’t going to be the same for every family,” said Carpenter.
This issue could be one Denver faces for years to come.
“We sort of say, how many kids are born here? Because in five years, those kids will be kindergartners,” Carpenter added.
The city’s birth rate peaked in 2005, meaning those babies have already graduated high school. And, according to the Colorado Department of Local Affairs, more young families move out of Denver and into surrounding counties than move into the city.
“I think school consolidation is very — I understand why people want to talk about it, but I think it’s more about, like, how do we make sure that the programs that are offered are rich programs,” said Carpenter.
Carpenter also says the district is closely monitoring some potential cuts to federal grants for students of poverty and language learners. He says those decisions will be made by October for the start of the new fiscal year, and cuts would have a “terrible” impact.
The Denver Broncos hosted eight tryout players at mandatory minicamp this week, including quarterback Sawyer Robertson. It sounds like the team has made decisions on those tryout players, and Robertson won’t be signed (at least not right now).
Instead, the Broncos are signing offensive lineman Reid Holskey (according to ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler) and cornerback Blake Cotton (according to the Denver Post‘s Parker Gabriel). Holskey (6-6, 306 pounds) spent time on the Houston Texans’ practice squad in 2025 before joining the New York Giants in January. He was cut by New York last month. Cotton (6-2, 195 pounds) is a rookie who spent last fall at Utah, totaling 30 tackles and seven pass breakups in 13 games.
The two moves came one day after Denver wrapped up minicamp. The 91-man offseason roster was already full, so the Broncos will need to make corresponding moves to make room for Holskey and Cotton on the roster.
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