DENVER — The Colorado Rockies ended a dubious streak by recording a zero.
Rookie right-hander Tanner Gordon pitched six innings as the Rockies beat the St. Louis Cardinals 6-0 on Wednesday for their first shutout since May 15, 2024, ending a streak of 220 games — the third longest in MLB history — since they last kept an opponent from scoring.
“I did not know that,” Rockies interim manager Warren Schaeffer said. “That’s a long time without a shutout. But I’m glad we shut them out today. That was good behind Gordon. Gordon did a fantastic job.”
Colorado is the only major league team since at least 1901 to go more than 200 games without a shutout victory.
Going back even further, only the Washington Senators, who went 383 games without a shutout from 1893 to 1896, and the St. Louis Browns/Perfectos, who went 298 games from 1897 to 1899, had longer streaks than the Rockies in MLB history, according to Elias Sports Bureau.
The last shutout for the Rockies came in an 8-0 victory against the San Diego Padres last season. The last shutout at home was a 2-0 win over the Athletics on July 30, 2023.
Gordon (2-2) scattered four hits while striking out three and walking three to become the first Rockies rookie since Kyle Freeland in 2017 to pitch at least six scoreless innings in a game at Coors Field. Freeland did it twice that season, with one-hit ball over 8⅓ innings of a 10-0 win versus the Chicago White Sox on July 9, after going seven innings in an 8-0 victory against the San Francisco Giants on April 23.
The Rockies (26-76) have won consecutive series for the first time this season, taking two of three games from the Cardinals after coming out of the All-Star break by winning two of three against the Minnesota Twins last weekend.
“Extremely important,” Rockies catcher Austin Nola said. “One game at a time. And I think that’s the biggest thing, is sticking to the plan, being in the present. And then at the end of the day, we’re going to come out on top.”
Last month, Colorado ended an MLB-record streak of 22 consecutive series losses, dating to last year, with a 3-2 victory at the Miami Marlins.
The Associated Press and ESPN Research contributed to this report.
