{"id":689972,"date":"2026-05-04T09:39:18","date_gmt":"2026-05-04T09:39:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/689972\/"},"modified":"2026-05-04T09:39:18","modified_gmt":"2026-05-04T09:39:18","slug":"mickey-moniak-hits-two-home-runs-but-braves-sweep-rockies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/689972\/","title":{"rendered":"Mickey Moniak hits two home runs, but Braves sweep Rockies"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mickey Moniak<\/a>\u2018s star power is in overdrive.<\/p>\n

The Rockies<\/a>\u2018 outfielder launched two more home runs on Sunday afternoon at Coors Field<\/a>, giving him 11 in Colorado\u2019s first 35 games and extending his hitting streak to 16 games.\n<\/p>\n

Still, a formula for consistent success continues to elude the reimagined Rockies. Their 11-6 loss to the Braves on Sunday afternoon at Coors Field provided the latest example. And gave the Braves a three-game sweep.\n<\/p>\n

Colorado got plenty of hits (11), including a solo blast by rookie first baseman TJ Rumfield (3 for 5) and a triple by Jake McCarthy to complement Moniak\u2019s big day.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t mess with Walt Weiss: Beloved former Rockies player, manager has Braves playing inspired baseball<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Moniak reached 11 home runs in his first 27 games played, the fastest Rockie to hit 11 homers since Trevor Story launched 11 in his first 27 games of his 2016 rookie season. Moniak is the first major league player to record four multi-homer games in a team\u2019s first 35 games since Toronto\u2019s Carlos Delgado in 2001.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s unbelievable watching that guy every single day and seeing what he does,\u201d Rumfield said. \u201cIt\u2019s impressive. You think he\u2019s going to hit a home run and \u2014 boom! \u2014 he does it.<\/p>\n

\u201cI see a complete baseball player, I see a cerebral player; a guy who knows what he\u2019s going to do when he gets in the box. He looks calm \u2014 all the time. That\u2019s something I try to take in as a younger player.\u201d<\/p>\n

Moniak, who\u2019s slashing .377\/.441\/.770 (1.211 OPS) with six doubles, six home runs, and 16 RBIs during his hitting streak, said he\u2019s in a comfortable place at the plate.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just think I\u2019ve found a good routine on a daily basis,\u201d Moniak said. \u201cIt gives me the confidence to be able to go into the game, and instead of worrying about my swing or anything like that, I just focus on what the pitcher is going to do and try to execute a game plan.\u201d<\/p>\n

But while Moniak continued to play like a player destined for the Midsummer Classic on July 14 in Philadelphia, Colorado\u2019s missing ingredient on Sunday was solid pitching.<\/p>\n

Atlanta tagged starter Kyle Freeland for six runs on eight hits over his 4 1\/3 innings. Right-handed reliever Antonio Senzatala, nearly untouchable this season, gave up two runs on three hits in 2 1\/3 innings. And multipurpose right-hander Jimmy Herget got rocked for three runs on three hits and a walk in the ninth inning.\n<\/p>\n

And so the Braves improved to 25-10 under first-year manager Walt Weiss for the best record in baseball. The Rockies lost their fourth straight, and the boost from their recent 4-2 road trip is quickly disappearing in their rearview mirror.\n<\/p>\n

Two innings illustrated Freeland\u2019s off-kilter day.<\/p>\n

In the second, light-hitting Johan Heim hit a two-out, two-run homer. It was Heim\u2019s first home run of the season. Jorge Mateo immediately followed with a solo blast that hugged the left-field line. Entering Sunday, Freeland had served up only two homers across four starts.\n<\/p>\n

In the fifth, Freeland uncharacteristically walked three, including walking Eli White with the bases full to force in a run. Freeland had walked only five batters in his first four starts.\n<\/p>\n

However, manager Warren Schaeffer lauded the Braves\u2019 powerful, deep lineup and said\u00a0 Freeland pitched a decent game.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wouldn\u2019t characterize his entire outing as \u2018uncharacteristic,\u2019 \u201d Schaeffer said. \u201cThe majority of the time, he was really good. He attacked the strike zone. Good pitch mix. \u2026 In the fifth inning, I just thought he lost some battles there with the walks.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"AtlantaAtlanta Braves catcher Jonah Heim,right, fields a throw as Colorado Rockies\u2019 Troy Johnston, left, scores on a sacrifice fly hit by Rockies\u2019 Ezequiel Tovar in the fifth inning of a baseball game Sunday, May 3, 2026, in Denver. (AP Photo\/David Zalubowski)<\/p>\n

Freeland gave himself a mixed review.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn that second inning, I had a couple of mistake pitches that got punished, but then I was able to kind of keep them at bay until the fifth when walks started piling up,\u201d he said. \u201cI had guys in advantage counts and couldn\u2019t put them away. I wasn\u2019t executing very well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Freeland, whose ERA sits at 5.04, added, \u201cI thought I battled really well throughout the entire game, but there in the fifth was uncharacteristic of me, walking those guys. In situations like that, with runners on and less than two outs, you have to make sure you are staying on the attack. And I was running out of gas there in the fifth, and I wasn\u2019t able to execute and put pitches where I wanted them to be.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Rockies open a three-game series vs. the Mets on Monday afternoon at Coors Field. The game was originally scheduled for 6:40 p.m. but was moved up three hours due to anticipated inclement weather.\n<\/p>\n

Pitching probables<\/p>\n

Monday: Mets TBA at Rockies RHP Tomoyuki Sugano (3-1, 2.84 ERA), 3:40 p.m.Tuesday: Mets RHP Freddy Peralta (1-3, 3.52) at Rockies RHP Michael Lorenzen (2-3, 6.09), 6:40 p.m.Wednesday: Mets RHP Christian Scott (0-0, 4.26) at Rockies LHP Jose Quintana (1-2, 4.07), 1:10 p.m.Thursday: Off day<\/p>\n

TV: Rockies.TVRadio: KOA 850 AM\/94.1 FM<\/p>\n

Want more Rockies news? Sign up for the Rockies Insider to get all our MLB analysis.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mickey Moniak\u2018s star power is in overdrive. The Rockies\u2018 outfielder launched two more home runs on Sunday afternoon…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":689973,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2394],"tags":[191,46,4166,5,192,167,52,1040,1041,4,185],"class_list":["post-689972","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-atlanta-braves","tag-atlanta","tag-atlanta-braves","tag-atlantabraves","tag-baseball","tag-braves","tag-colorado","tag-colorado-rockies","tag-denver","tag-front-range","tag-mlb","tag-sports"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116515646551661339","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/689972","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=689972"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/689972\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/689973"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=689972"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=689972"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=689972"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}