Rockies 10, Cardinals 7: Six in the Fifth Turns a Quiet Coors Night

Four innings of nothing, then the fifth would not end

September 5, 2026 - Denver - Matthew Liberatore retired the first 10 Colorado Rockies he faced Saturday at Coors Field. Colorado's only baserunner through four innings was a walk. Then Cole Carrigg singled to start the fifth, and the Rockies scored six times before the inning closed.

The St. Louis Cardinals had already built a 3-0 lead on Joshua Báez's second-inning homer and Iván Herrera's two-run shot in the fifth. They still left Denver with a 10-7 loss. Liberatore fell to 5-14. It was his eighth straight decision that ended the same way.

Liberatore's first 10, then the leak

Liberatore set down the first 10 batters. Connor Norby walked to break it. Liberatore got the next two. Through four, Colorado had one walk and no hits. That is not the Coors Field script anyone writes in September.

Carrigg changed it. One out in the fifth, he singled. Three straight singles scored two. Liberatore threw two wild pitches while Jake McCarthy was at the plate, and another run came home. McCarthy and Ezequiel Tovar stole. McCarthy scored on a single. TJ Rumfield doubled in one more. Six runs, and a 3-0 Cardinals lead was a 6-3 Rockies lead.

Liberatore's line: 4 1/3 innings, four hits, five earned, two walks, three strikeouts, 69 pitches. He has not won in his last nine starts. The first four innings were the version St. Louis needs. The fifth is why he is 5-14.

Herrera and Báez made it look like St. Louis's night

Báez went deep in the second for a 1-0 lead, his sixth homer. He later singled in the sixth. Herrera made it 3-0 in the fifth with a two-run homer, his 15th, before Colorado's half of the inning turned the score around.

Mason Adams, in his third start since a major league debut on August 25, lasted 4 2/3 innings: eight hits, three earned, one walk, seven strikeouts, two homers, 78 pitches. He did not get his first career win. The bullpen that followed him did the job the starter could not finish.

St. Louis cut it to 6-5 in the sixth off Zach Agnos. Nolan Gorman doubled in a run. Thomas Saggese lifted a sacrifice fly. Saggese finished 2-for-2 with a double, a walk, a steal, and that RBI. The Cardinals had 13 hits. They still lost because Colorado answered immediately.

Four more in the seventh

Colorado scored four in the seventh and put the game out of a late rally's reach. Two of those runs came against Hancel Rincon, the same rookie who was at the center of Friday night's argument when home plate umpire Doug Eddings told him to straighten his cap. Oliver Marmol was ejected in that 7-6 St. Louis win. Saturday, Rincon's inning was the scoreboard version of a bad night: one inning, two hits, four earned, one walk.

Hunter Goodman drove in two. Norby scored twice and walked twice. Adael Amador had two hits and an RBI. McCarthy reached three times (hit, two walks), stole two bases, and scored twice. Colorado finished with 11 hits after that one-walk start.

The Cardinals scored two more in the ninth. Jordan Romano came in with the tying run still a story someone could tell and recorded the last two outs for his 15th save. Brennan Bernardino got the win (4-3) after a two-out, no-hit, no-walk sliver in the sixth. Jaden Hill and Nick Frasso each threw a clean inning in between.

What the 10-7 actually said

Colorado is 55-87. St. Louis is 71-72. The standings made this look like a September getaway game. The fifth inning made it a recap. Liberatore walked 10 hitters in a row's worth of quiet, then the Rockies stole, scored on wild pitches, and doubled through the gap. Coors Field does that when a starter stays one batter too long.

Boulder native Kyle Leahy (10-4, 5.41) was set to face Tanner Gordon (1-4, 5.18) in Sunday's series finale.

AthX Engine (our projection and scoring system) put the Rockies at 16 team fantasy points, tied for the top of Saturday's board with San Francisco. McCarthy led Colorado's bats at 9 hitting FP. Saggese had 8 for St. Louis in a loss. Fantasy points measure the night. Dynamic pricing is what the market pays later.

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*Sources: ESPN recap, MLB Gameday box, CBS Sports box, Associated Press via ABC News, AthX Engine scoring. Information only; not financial advice.*