Moniak continues to deliver in clutch, powering Rockies with three-hit game

DENVER -- Mickey Moniak is all in with the Rockies’ season of learning through struggle. But it helps to have something good happen, like Sunday afternoon’s 6-4 victory over the White Sox at Coors Field.

Moniak fueled Colorado's victory on the second pitch of the bottom of the first with a leadoff homer to right-center field. He helped add on with a two-run triple in the fifth inning and made it a three-hit game with a single in the seventh. He also made a nice sliding catch in the second and stole a base in the seventh.

“We’re trying to take the good with the bad and all that stuff, but at the end of the day when we show up to the ballpark, we’re looking to win,” said Moniak, who matched his season high with a six-game hit streak (June 16-22).

It took Moniak landing a double shy of the cycle, and Michael Toglia swatting a two-run homer in the four-run fifth, for the Rockies to avoid being swept in the three-game series to end a 2-4 homestand.

The series attracted the eyes of futility historians everywhere, given the Rockies’ difficult start and the fact the 2024 White Sox finished a Modern Era-worst 41-121. Colorado improved to 21-69 – tied for the Modern Era’s fourth-most losses after 89 decisions. The ‘25 Rockies have two fewer losses than the 1916 Philadelphia Athletics as the 1904 Washington Senators.

Colorado's 10-36 home record is tied for worst after 46 decisions with the 1906 Boston Americans. Oddly, nine of the 10 victories have come in series finales.

“Obviously, we feel like that’s a team we should be beating,” Moniak said. “I’m sure they feel the same about us.

“Dropping the first two games was tough. To be able to come out and salvage a series int the third game was huge.”

The first overall Draft pick by the Phillies in 2016, Moniak played with the Phils and Angels in the Majors, but he appears to have found Major League footing with the Rockies -- who signed him after he was released by the Angels late in Spring Training.

Moniak started all three games of the series in center as interim manager Warren Schaeffer pulled Brenton Doyle out of the lineup for extra cage work. Doyle homered in Saturday night’s 10-3 loss to the White Sox and singled off the bench Sunday.

Moniak and right-handed-hitting Tyler Freeman, picked up in a trade with the Guardians late in Spring Training, are a part of a deepening outfield. No. 5 Rockies prospect Yanquiel Fernández, called up Tuesday, started in right field as Freeman sat out with right hamstring soreness and went 1-for-3 with his first Major League RBI.

Left fielder Jordan Beck has been in the starting lineup in the same position consistently than any other Rockies outfielder.

Moniak has established himself as a viable lineup option, especially against right-handed starters.

“Mickey continues to get big hits in big spots for us -- man, he’s got a slow heartbeat,” Schaeffer said. “His work is good. He’s just a good player. He keeps progressing in the right direction, which is promising."