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A’s Offense Coming Alive in Colorado

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A’s Offense Coming Alive in Colorado


After snapping their losing streak in the first game against the Colorado Rockies, the A’s were out for the series win in game two. Despite some troubling signs early on in this one, the A’s ended up winning fairly comfortably, 7-4, with Mason Miller earning his third save of the season. This is the A’s first series win of the season.

The “troublesome” signs came in the second inning.

Catcher Shea Langeliers (1-for-2, HR, 2 RBI, 2 runs, 3 BB) led off the frame with a walk, and Tyler Soderstrom singled, putting runners at first and second. Friday’s hero, Jacob Wilson, came up to bat and grounded to third, where Ryan McMahon stepped on the bag, fired to second baseman Kyle Farmer, who went all the way around the horn to Michael Toglia at first to complete the triple play.

The Rockies hadn’t turned a triple play since 2007, and given that the A’s and Rox play three times a year (now), the odds of it happening to them were pretty slim. Alas, it did, and it seemed like an omen for the game itself.

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Those feelings weren’t helped when Farmer doubled with two outs in the bottom half of the inning, and JP Sears immediately surrendered a two-run shot to Sean Bouchard to put Colorado up 2-0. It was a two-run shot to Julio Rodíguez that doomed Sears in Seattle, and it looked like a trend may be forming.

After the first three batters in the bottom of the third reached for the Rockies, Sears was able to get Hunter Goodman to ground into a double play, but a run crossed the plate in the process, giving them a 3-0 lead.

In the top of the fourth, Lawrence Butler manufactured his own run, leading off the inning with a single, then advancing to second on a Brent Rooker groundout. Butler would take off for third, and the throw to the bag sailed into left field, allowing Butler to score, making it 3-1.

A pair of walks to JJ Bleday and Shea Langeliers would see the A’s threaten yet again, but Tyler Soderstrom would strike out, and Wilson would yet again ground to third. Luckily, there were already two outs in the frame, so it didn’t result in a second triple play.

In the sixth, nearly the exact same scenario would play out, with Bleday and Langeliers drawing walks, but this time with nobody out. Soderstrom ripped a double down the first base line, scoring Bleday from second and leaving runners at second and third for Wilson, who would face reliever Jimmy Herget.

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Wilson would get his revenge, doubling home the pair to give the A’s the lead, 4-3. It was Wilson’s second go-ahead hit in as many days. It’s been quite a week for Wilson, who hit his first MLB home run against the Chicago Cubs on Monday, the first MLB home run at Sutter Health Park, and he’s followed that up with huge hits in the first two games in Colorado.

In the seventh, former A’s reliever Scott Alexander came on to pitch for the Rockies, and he promptly gave up a double to Butler. Yet, the lefty would catch the A’s star leaning, and ended up technically picking him off, though a throw was never made.

Alexander ran towards third when Butler was halfway, getting him to retreat back to second. Butler juked in an attempt to reach third, but went out of the running lane as Alexander tagged him.

Immediately after this, Brent Rooker hit one out to center, padding the A’s lead and making it a 5-3 game. Rooker’s shot traveled an estimated 425 feet. In the dugout, Butler seemed to apologize to Rook after the home run, but the veteran patted him on the chest and seemingly reassured Butler.

JJ Bleday (0-for-2, 3 BB, 2 runs) would walk yet again, and Shea Langeliers smacked a 429 foot homer of his own to center, putting the A’s up four.

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Sears would get the first out in the seventh, but then gave up a single to Farmer and walked Bouchard on a questionable ball four call, which lead to manager Mark Kotsay going to the bullpen.

Justin Sterner came in and continued his perfect start to the season, getting Jordan Beck to fly out and Brenton Doyle to strike out, ending the threat.

Tyler Ferguson gave up his first earned run of the season on a Ryan McMahon solo shot in the eighth inning, which created a save opportunity in the ninth for Miller. Yet again, it was the slider that he used slightly more than the heater, and he struck out two to end the game.

With the win, the A’s are now 4-5 on the year and sit in third place in the AL West, 1.5 back of the Los Angeles Angels, and three back of the Texas Rangers. All three clubs won on Saturday night, while the Houston Astros (3-5) and Seattle Mariners (3-6) each lost their games.

JP Sears got the win to even up his record at 1-1, after finishing with 6.1 innings of work, giving up six hits, three earned runs, walking two and striking out two. This is the best start to a season that Sears has had with the A’s, dating back to 2023.

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He holds a 3.46 ERA, and nearly all of the damage against him has been on two two-run homers. He looks to be in line for the opening game of the series with the New York Mets in Sacramento.

As for Sunday’s finale, the A’s are expected to throw Joey Estes out there as he hopes to rebound from his start on Monday against the Cubs where he struggled with his command and gave up six runs on nine hits and four walks across four innings of work. He’ll be opposed by 23-year-old Chase Dollander, who will be making his MLB debut. Dollander is also the Rockies’ No. 1 prospect.

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Colorado Rockies spring training game no. 17 thread: Kyle Freeland vs. Jedisxson Paez

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Colorado Rockies spring training game no. 17 thread: Kyle Freeland vs. Jedisxson Paez


In his first spring training action of 2026, Kyle Freeland faced the daunting task of pitching against Team USA in an exhibition game on March 4. He gave up a solo homer to Aaron Judge in a two-hit, one-strikeout performance in one inning.

Today, Freeland and the Rockies (8-6-1) will take part in his first Cactus League action against the White Sox (10-7) at Camelback Ranch. The Rockies are 5-2 on the road this spring vs. 3-5-1, including the showdown vs. Team USA, at Salt River Fields.

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Today’s game represents a rematch of a Feb. 23 showdown where the Rockies beat the White Sox 5-4. Chicago will send Jedisxson Paez to the mound to start the game. The 22-year-old RHP will be making his third spring appearance. He’s posted a 23.14 ERA in 2 1/3 innings over two starts with six earned runs, six hits, including one homer, three strikeouts and one walk. Former Rockie Drew Romo will be starting at catcher for the White Sox.

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On Sunday, four pitchers combined to throw five scoreless innings and Kyle Karros and Tyler Freeman each had two-hit performances in the Rockies 4-4 tie with Cleveland. Even though it’s only spring training, the Rockies offense has been much improved thus far. The Rockies rank among all Major League teams this Spring in: on-base percentage (.381, T-1st), home runs (23, T-4th), average (.287, 3rd), HBP (14, T-2nd), slugging (.492, 3rd), OPS (.871, 3rd), runs scored (98, 5th), RBI (91, 6th) and total bases (254, 6th).

Earlier on Monday, the Rockies released a new motto for the 2026 campaign: “New era. At altitude. We are here for the climb.”



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Outraged over incentives for data centers that are no good for Colorado (Letters)

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Outraged over incentives for data centers that are no good for Colorado (Letters)


Data centers: What good are they for Colorado?

Re: “Dueling policies for data centers,” March 1 news story

The Denver Post article about two competing bills in the legislature regarding new data centers in Colorado seems to start with the presumption that we want the data centers.

Why do we want them and who wants them? Is it the politicians wanting bragging rights about our state becoming another Silicon Valley? Perhaps they want more businesses so they can collect more taxes from the new residents. Alternatively, they just want more power in Washington by increasing our population. Has anyone stopped to ask why we want to attract more people to our state?

Colorado is in a fight with other Western states to obtain more water for our growing population. Our wildlife is being crowded out by the increased urbanization. The roads are so crowded that it is not uncommon to come to a complete stop on our interchanges during rush hour. We have a serious housing shortage. The air is being polluted by the increased number of cars. These are all the result of a growing population. Did anyone stop to ask why we want more people?

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During my 53 years living in Colorado, I have never heard anyone (other than politicians) say, “We need more people.” On the contrary, the conversation is more often about how we are becoming overcrowded. I would like the politicians to explain why we need more businesses and more people in our state. It should not be a presumption that more is better! Are our elected representatives truly reflecting the wishes of their constituents?

Doug Hurst, Parker

Anger and disbelief were our reactions when we read about House Bill 1030, which is under consideration at the statehouse. This outrageous corporate welfare bill would provide some of the world’s wealthiest corporations with massive state tax reductions to build monstrous resource-thirsty data centers. Analysts projected a $92.5 million tax loss in just three years if a bunch of these data centers are built. Just one 160-megawatt facility would gobble up as much power as 176,000 homes once completed. Consider for comparison that the entire DIA airport uses around 45 megawatts of power!

As the state legislature grapples with bone-deep budget cuts, we cannot afford to exempt data centers from paying their own way nor allow their unregulated construction. Taxpayer-funded corporate handouts would entail massive hits to tax revenue that should be used for our schools, roads, infrastructure, and valid state needs. What essential services will potentially be cut or axed to cover the lost revenue to the state from this corporate giveaway?

These data centers also demand massive amounts of our water. A CoreSite data center in Denver alone will use approximately 805,000 gallons of water per day to air-condition its computers. That is the same as the average daily indoor water use of 16,100 Denver homes.

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I pray our state legislature will condemn HB-1030 to the corporate welfare hell where it belongs in. Instead, they should support Senate Bill 102 that will hopefully properly regulate these tax-eating, water-wasting, and electricity-gobbling monstrosities.

Terry Talbot, Grand Junction



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Skier killed in avalanche in Colorado’s Boss Basin, first ski death of the season

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Skier killed in avalanche in Colorado’s Boss Basin, first ski death of the season


Early Sunday morning, Colorado rescue crews found the body of a missing skier who was killed in a recent avalanche.

The skier was reported missing in the Boss Basin area in the upper portion of Resolution Creek on March 7.

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Colorado Avalanche Information Center


Summit County Rescue Group, Vail Mountain Rescue and the Summit and Eagle County Sheriff’s Offices began searching the area and discovered the site of the avalanche. They noticed that nearby ski and snowmobile tracks led up to where it occurred.

The Colorado Avalanche Information Center says Flight for Life helped with the search. They found the body of the missing skier in the avalanche debris on Sunday, around sunrise.

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Colorado Avalanche Information Center


CAIC staff said the avalanche started near the treeline on a northeast-facing slope and was about two feet deep. The slope angles ranged from 33 to 36 degrees.

According to CAIC data, this is the first person killed in an avalanche during the 2025-2026 ski season.

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Colorado Avalanche Information Center

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Avalanche danger in some parts of the high country is considerable, particularly on north- and east-facing slopes and on large open slopes just below ridgelines.

The CAIC Forecast for Sunday says:

“The avalanche danger will stay at CONSIDERABLE (3of5) on Sunday for the places that picked up the most snow in this last storm (Elk and Sawatch Ranges). Areas that received less than 8 inches will go back to MODERATE danger, but this may vary significantly from drainage to drainage and with elevation. Assume a higher danger if you find a foot or more of new snow. Across the region, wind-drifted slopes will remain the most dangerous regardless of the danger. In the shallower areas (Elks and Sawatch), we’re more concerned about avalanches in motion breaking deeper, failing in buried facet layers.

On Sunday, as the sun pops out, remember that a strong spring sun can make sunny slopes unstable rather quickly. Keep an eye out for roller balls as an indication of a forthcoming shed cycle of loose avalanches.”



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