The Colorado Rockies were hoping their offense would take flight after last night’s showing, but unfortunately it did not. Instead, the offense was limited to just four hits, while Chase Dollander got roughed up for the first time this season.
Colorado
Colorado crews planning mitigation of second underground coal mine fire near Marshall Fire’s origin
State mining safety crews are moving forward with plans to unearth a second active underground fire later this year in the area where the most destructive wildfire in Colorado history was ignited.
The Marshall Fire destroyed more than 1,000 homes on Dec. 30, 2021. It was pushed by 100 mph winds across open space and into the communities of Superior and Louisville. Two residents there were killed.
RELATED Marshall Fire investigation reveals most destructive fire in Colorado history was composed of 2 fires (2023)
Authorities, after an 18-month investigation, determined there were two ignition points – the first a smoldering wood pile on private property, the second below power lines. The latter is a point of contention, with Xcel Energy disagreeing with investigators’ conclusions. The company is fighting litigation blaming its lines for at least partially causing the blaze.
RELATED Investigators: Burning remnants of underground coal mines are possible cause of Marshall Fire (2022)
The investigation did not rule out the possibility that coal burning below ground for decades contributed to the fire. Winds as strong as those experienced during the Marshall Fire could conceivably draw heat from the underground coal fires to the surface.
One such site contains the Lewis Mines that were abandoned and buried in 1946. A surface vent emitting heat measured at 120 degrees was discovered in 2018.
RELATED Disaster declaration issued for area in Boulder County to mitigate underground coal mine fire (2023)
Crews from Colorado’s Division of Reclamation, Mining and Safety started an overhaul of the Lewis Mine site in January. Excavators carefully extracted land adjacent to the Davidson Ditch, alternately digging and filling 10-foot “fingers” of steaming ground to keep the concrete irrigation channel from collapsing.
Crews dug 30 feet deep and encountered temperatures as high as 600 degrees. Where readings were greater than 90 degrees, crews mixed the heated soil with cool soil and rock until temperatures fell below that mark.
The project wrapped up in early April ahead of schedule.
Crews are now planning to turn ground 2,000 feet away above the Marshall Mines, a DRMS spokesman confirmed. The department is currently in the permitting process with Boulder County since the project, slated to start later this summer or fall, will affect access to county open space at the Marshall Mesa trailhead.
It will be the second time mitigation efforts have occurred at the Marshall Mines. A vent from the mines there was blamed for starting a small brush fire in 2005. Three years later, 275 tons of rock was dumped on the site, raising its surface 18 inches.
The recent Lewis Mines mitigation cost $316,002, according to the department’s spokesman, Chris Arend. The Marshall mitigation will be done now that additional federal money has been received by the department to address coal mine fires throughout the state.
In a 2018 DRMS study, there are 1,736 know abandoned coal mines in Colorado. A contractor hired by the state to examine them found 38 were actively burning or were dormant and extinguished after previously burning.
Brennan Bernardino served as the opener, and he left Dollander with a mess right off the bat. Bernardino failed to get out of the first inning giving up a single to Ronald Acuña Jr., and then he surrendering a two-run homer to Drake Baldwin to make it a 2-0 ballgame with zero outs in the first.
Ozzie Albies then doubled before Matt Olson finally flew out to center record the first out for Bernardino. A wild pitch allowed him to advance to third, and then Bernardino struck out Michael Harris II.
Warren Schaeffer likely envisioned Bernardino finishing at least the first inning, if not multiple innings, but ended up lifting him after just 0.2 innings. Dollander entered and immediately walked Mauricio Dubón, but then struck out Austin Riley to limit the damage.
The Braves Chase’d Dollander
Dollander started off the second inning strong with a strikeout of Mike Yastrzemski, but then gave up a double to Jorge Mateo. Acuña then came up to the plate and grounded out, but he pulled up halfway to first base. Hopefully it’s not an extended injury, given his history.
Next up, Baldwin singled to score Mateo and put the Braves up 3-0 but then Ozzie Albies struck out to end the inning.
Dollander recorded a 1-2-3 third, but the fourth and fifth got dicey.
The fourth started off with a walk to Austin Riley, which inevitably came back around to haunt. Yastrzemsky popped out to Karros, but then Riley stole second and then was knocked to third by a Mateo single. Eli White — who entered for Acuña — bunted, which scored Riley and moved Mateo to third. Baldwin struck again, though, with an RBI double to put the Braves up 5-1 and then Albies hit a sac fly to score White. Matt Olson flied out to end the inning, but the damage was done.
The fifth inning started with a single by Harris, which turned into two bases on an error committed by Troy Johnston. Dubón grounded out, but Riley homered to center to put the Braves up 8-1.
It was just Dollander’s fourth home run allowed this year, but he came back to get Yastrzemski and Mateo.
The sixth featured a lot of traffic, but nobody came around to score. Dollander was lifted after the sixth with a final line of 5.1 IP, 8 H, 6 ER, 3 BB, 3 K, 1 HR. He threw 97 pitches, 61 for strikes.
“I thought (Dollander) was just a little behind today,” Schaeffer said after the game. “I think (it was) unusual, with some walks. The breaking ball and the off-speed stuff — not enough strikes out of those so he relied on his fastball a little more. And they got him. I mean, that’s a good lineup. Tip your hat to that lineup, it’s a really good lineup.”
Dollander echoed that postgame with the media.
“I just didn’t get ahead and then didn’t put guys away when I needed to,” he said. “I started falling behind when I got ahead and it’s not conducive to success.”
When asked about pitching behind an opener versus starting, Dollander responded that it doesn’t change his mentality.
“I’m just trying to get the guys innings and put up zeroes just like I was when I was starting,” he said. “The mentality does not change at all. If you fall into that trap, it’s not good for pitching.”
You can watch Dollander’s full postgame interview here (courtesy of Patrick Saunders).
The Rockies offense, once again, was MIA tonight. They did not record a hit until the third inning, when Kyle Karros singled to lead off the inning. Ezequiel Tovar and Troy Johnston both flied out to center, but then Jordan Beck smacked a double to (barely) score Karros and end the shutout.
Brenton Doyle struck out, but at least the Rockies plated a run.
But that was the end of the scoring.
There was some traffic in the fifth, when Karros and Tovar walked back-to-back to start the inning, but Johnston grounded into a force out, Beck was called out on strikes, and Doyle struck out swinging to strand the runners.
Their next hit wouldn’t come until the seventh, when Brett Sullivan led off with a single. But then three-straight strikeouts stranded him at first. Willi Castro got a hit with one out in the ninth, but Sullivan grounded into a double play to end the game.
In total the Rockies offense mustered just four hits, but walked three times and struck out 12 (11 of those were against Chris Sale).
The Rox will look to avoid the sweep at the hands of the Braves tomorrow afternoon. Kyle Freeland will face Spencer Strider, who is making his 2026 debut. First pitch is at 1:10pm.
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Colorado
Colorado community concerned about wildfire risk, over 1,000 residents practice evacuation drills
Most experts agree that the summer of 2026 could be a very active and dangerous fire season in Colorado. That’s why one of the state’s most vulnerable communities spent their Saturday morning preparing.
Much like the meager melting snowfall, it started off as a trickle, eventually gathering at a lower elevation. It was the stream of people in the hills of Evergreen evacuating their homes.
“We are petrified, it is so dry. It has never been this dry. We’ve always worried about wildfires, but this year it’s not an if but a when, I think,” said Evergreen resident Sarah Forbes.
This wasn’t an emergency, just a drill put on by Clear Creek and Evergreen firefighters and the Clear Creek and Jefferson County Sheriff’s Offices. They say practice is important because if a fire starts in or near Evergreen, getting people to safety will take a lot of work.
“The roads weren’t built for mass evacuations. The populations are growing up here in the mountains, and getting that many people out in a very short period of time is going to be a challenge,” said Evergreen Fire Chief Michael Weege.
The drill gives the fire and sheriff’s departments data they can use in a real emergency, and highlights flaws in the system that can be fixed ahead of time.
“We’re hearing some things about the 911 system itself. The notice came out as spam on their phone, and that could be a setting on their phone not recognizing the number,” said Weege.
And residents got a chance to shore up their own evacuation plans. Forbes said they had to re-evaluate things partway through the evacuation drill.
“We had already packed our bags a while back, and we had a list of last minute items to plan to grab. And then my husband starts pulling up with all these bins and boxes from the basement. I was like, ‘What is all this?’” said Forbes. “He thought we were taking two cars.”
Forbes said she’d rather take one car and that they would need to pare down the items they bring during an evacuation.
Officials say they were blown away by the community’s willingness to participate in this exercise. They say they were expecting a couple of dozen volunteers to evacuate their homes. Instead, they got around 1,300.
SATURDAY-SUNDAY The Springs Home Show —10 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday, 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Sunday, Colorado Springs Event Center, 3960 Palmer Park Blvd. Tickets: thespringshomeshow.com. THURSDAY New to Colorado Gardening — 4-6 p.m., Phelan Gardens, 4955 Austin Bluffs Parkway, $18. Registration: phelangardens.com. FRIDAY-MAY 16 Horticultural Arts Society Gigantic Plant Sale — 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Fridays, 9 a.m.-4 […]
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