DENVER (AP) — It's no longer Bud Black's job to steer the Colorado Rockies away from baseball infamy.

The team fired Black, the winningest manager in franchise history, after a 7-33 start that’s one of the worst in Major League Baseball history.

Colorado promoted third base coach Warren Schaeffer to be the interim manager, the team announced Sunday after a 9-3 win over San Diego. That victory wasn’t enough to save Black’s job after the Rockies lost 21-0 to the Padres on Saturday night. They also fired bench coach Mike Redmond. Hitting coach Clint Hurdle takes over as interim bench coach.

The Rockies have the worst 40-game start since the 1988 Baltimore Orioles, who were 6-34.

“Our play so far this season, especially coming off the last two seasons, has been unacceptable. Our fans deserve better, and we are capable of better,” Rockies owner, chairman and CEO Dick Monfort, said in a statement. “While we all share responsibility in how this season has played out, these changes are necessary."

Colorado is 19 1/2 games out of first place in the NL West. The Rockies have been outscored by 128 runs so far this season. The only team since 1900 with a worse run differential through 40 games was the 2023 Oakland Athletics (-144).

“We have to get better and move forward — we owe it to our fans to play better baseball,” general manager Bill Schmidt said Sunday.

On Saturday afternoon, Schmidt backed Black, saying, "Buddy’s doing a good job right now. They’re showing up for work and playing with effort.”

Hours later, the Rockies were routed by the Padres.

Schmidt said he was attempting to get everything in place Sunday morning to make the move after the game — win or lose.

“I know it took a little air out of winning the game,” said Schmidt, whose team snapped an eight-game slide.

The seventh manager in team history, Black initially found success with Colorado when he led the Rockies to back-to-back playoff appearances in 2017 and ’18. They haven’t finished with a winning record since and are coming off two straight 100-loss seasons. Colorado has a .349 winning percentage since 2023.

Black’s contract was set to expire following the season. He signed a one-year extension in October.

Black was 544-690 in nine seasons while wearing the purple pinstripes. He surpassed Hurdle last season for the team record in both games managed and wins.

The easy-going demeanor of Black seemed to be a good fit for a Rockies team relying heavily on youth. The lineup featured a nucleus of Gold Glove winners Ezequiel Tovar (currently on the injured list) and Brenton Doyle, along with the recent call-up of highly touted outfielder Zac Veen, who has since been sent back down. On the mound, they’ve promoted prized pitcher Chase Dollander, the ninth overall draft pick in 2023.

But little has gone right for Black and the Rockies. They allowed 10 or more runs in four straight games, culminating in the football-like 21-0 score Saturday.

“I love both those guys to death. I’ll be in contact with them for hopefully the rest of my life,” pitcher Kyle Freeland said of Black and Redmond. “Clearly some changes needed to be made to see if we can start turning this thing around, get going in a new direction, and get some traction.”

A team owned by Monfort and run by Schmidt didn’t make any splash moves to bolster a spiraling club. Their total payroll this season is listed at $125.5 million and is 20th in the league, according to Spotrac, a site that tracks payroll.

One reason for the Rockies’ free fall has been the health of slugger Kris Bryant, who’s struggled to stay on the field after signing a $182 million, seven-year contract ahead of the 2022 season. He’s currently on the 60-day injured list with lumbar degenerative disk disease.

Before taking over the Rockies, Black spent time in charge of San Diego. He was 649-713 in nine seasons with the Padres and was named the NL manager of the year in 2010.

In addition to his managerial stints in San Diego and Colorado, Black spent seven seasons as the pitching coach for the Angels, who made it to postseason three times and were World Series champions in 2002.

Before breaking into the managerial ranks, Black spent parts of 15 seasons on the mound after the left-hander was picked by Seattle in the 17th round of the 1979 draft. He spent time with the Mariners (1981), Kansas City (1982-88), Cleveland (1988-90, 1995), Toronto (1990) and San Francisco (1991-94). He finished 121-116 with a 3.84 ERA over 398 games.

Black was with the Royals when they won the 1985 World Series, making one start and a relief appearance against St. Louis.

Schaeffer will make his first appearance as interim manager Monday in Arlington, Texas, against the Rangers. He's been Colorado's third base and infield coach since the 2023 season. Prior to joining the big league team, he spent 10 seasons as a manager and coach in the Rockies' minor league system. He most recently managed Triple-A Albuquerque in the 2021 and 2022 seasons.

“I believe that Warren is the right person to lead us forward for the remainder of this season, develop our young talent at the major league level and get our club back to playing a better brand of baseball,” Schmidt said.

Goodman hits a double, a triple and a HR and has 5 RBIs as Rockies beat Padres 9-3

DENVER (AP) — Hunter Goodman hit a double, a triple and a home run and had five RBIs on Sunday to help the Colorado Rockies beat the San Diego Padres 9-3 and snap an eight-game losing streak.

After the game, the Rockies (7-33) fired manager Bud Black, whose 544 wins are the most in franchise history, a day after Colorado lost 21-0 to the Padres. The Rockies promoted third base coach Warren Schaeffer to interim manager.

Germán Márquez (1-6) pitched seven innings and gave up a run on three hits.

Goodman's triple off Nick Pivetta (5-2) drove in two before Mickey Moniak hit an RBI single to make it 6-1 in the third inning.

Pivetta gave up six runs on seven hits with two walks over four innings.

Fernando Tatis Jr. scored on a groundout by Manny Machado in the first inning. Tatis added an RBI groundout in the eighth and Machado followed with run-scoring single.

Ryan McMahon hit a solo shot in the eighth for Colorado.

Key moment

Brenton Doyle led off with a single and moved to second when Jordan Beck was hit by a pitch to set up Goodman's three-run home run that gave the Rockies a 3-1 lead in the first.

Key stat

The Rockies are off to the worst 40-game start in MLB since the Baltimore Orioles went 6-34 to open the 1988 season.

Up next

Chase Dollander (2-3, 7.71 ERA) is scheduled to start for the Rockies on Monday against Tyler Mahle (3-1, 1.48 ERA) to kick off a three-game road series with the Texas Rangers. Michael King (4-1, 2.22 ERA) is expected to take the mound for the Padres against Yusei Kikuchi (0-4, 3.83 ERA) in the first of a three-game home series with the Los Angeles Angels.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scores 25 points and leads Thunder past Denver 92-87 to tie series 2-2

 

DENVER (AP) — The Oklahoma City Thunder beat the Denver Nuggets at their own game Sunday.

The NBA's youngest team made all the clutch plays in crunch time against an experienced squad teeming with a championship pedigree, knotting the second-round series with a 92-87 win in Game 4.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored nine of his 25 points in the fourth quarter, pulling the top-seeded Thunder from the brink of a 3-1 deficit against a Denver team known for closing out games while winning six of its last seven playoff series — and the two tight games earlier in this series that resumes Tuesday night in Oklahoma City.

About 36 hours after an exhausting overtime Game 3 Friday night, the early Mother’s Day tip-off produced an ugly first half that featured a combined 25 points in the first quarter and ended with OKC up 42-36 at the break.

“Quick turnaround with an early game today, we made an intentional effort to use our depth today and get everybody going,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said.

Down by eight points early in the fourth quarter, the Thunder used an 11-0 run fueled by reserves Cason Wallace, who had a pair of 3-pointers, and Aaron Wiggins, who added another, to wrest control.

Wallace's second 3-pointer put Oklahoma City ahead for good at 75-73.

“I really thought the difference in the game was their bench kind of lit a fuse for them,” Nuggets interim coach David Adelman said. “They made 3s ... pretty incredible in a game where the two teams shoot 21 of 86 from 3."

Denver looked poised to put the top-seeded team in the West on the cusp of elimination when Aaron Gordon's turnaround jumper made it 73-66.

This time, however, it was the Thunder who came up big down the stretch and the Nuggets who fumbled away the chance to put OKC in a 3-1 hole. Denver's many late miscues included a key five-second inbounds violation.

Nikola Jokic had 27 points and 13 rebounds but his three assists were a low for this playoff run and gave him 22 assists to go with 23 turnovers in this second-round series.

Jokic said he never thinks about fatigue so he didn't blame anything or anyone else for Denver's 31% shooting clip and 34 missed 3s. And Adelman wouldn't go so far as to say the NBA erred with the early tip-off, either.

“I don't want to say that,” Adelman said. “I will say that both teams were very tired coming off an unbelievably physical overtime battle late Friday night. ... I mean, both of us had super tired legs, so it was about who's going to make that final run.”

Not his team, not this time.

“We fought. We stayed the course," Gilgeous-Alexander said, "... and then we closed the game.”

The Thunder simply don't have Denver's playoff pedigree but Daigneault said his team is gaining that much-needed experience by the day.

“Every time you take punches and you get back up, you get stronger,” he said. “That’s what we’re preaching to our team. We lost a tough one the other night in overtime. We stood back up today."