Bats: Coming Soon, Phillies At Giants, Game 5

Ryan McMahon made the quantum leap from local Rox star to major league All-Star. On Sunday, the Rockies’ veteran third baseman was selected to the National League All-Star team for the first time. He made the team as a reserve via the players’ vote. “It’s a cool honor,” McMahon said. “For me, personally, getting voted in by the players is the biggest honor you can receive.” McMahon will be Colorado’s lone representative in the Midsummer Classic on July 16 at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas.

The final line won’t show it, but Tanner Gordon nearly worked a storybook outing in his MLB debut. There was no sugarcoating a dismal day for the Colorado Rockies offense and bullpen, however. Brady Singer quieted the Colorado bats, and the Kansas City Royals avoided a weekend sweep Sunday afternoon at Coors Field with a 10-1 victory in front of 32,180. Gordon pounded the strike zone, which helped him work efficiently but may have also cost him a quality start.

The writing was on the wall: In 17 starts for the Rockies, right-hander Dakota Hudson was 2-12 with a 5.84 ERA and walked nearly as many batters as he struck out. Sunday, the Rockies designated Hudson for assignment and selected the contract of right-hander Tanner Gordon from Triple-A Albuquerque. Tanner will make his major league debut and start against Kansas City on Sunday afternoon at Coors Field. Hudson, 30, who signed a one-year, $1.5 million free-agent contract to come to Colorado, struggled mightily at Coors Field.

Vlatko Cancar will return to Denver for the 2024-25 season after agreeing to a new veteran minimum contract with the Nuggets in free agency, a league source told The Denver Post. The Nuggets declined Cancar’s $2.35 million team option in June, a mutually beneficial maneuver that will now simultaneously increase Cancar’s salary and decrease his cap figure.

Jordyn Poulter has seen the view from volleyball’s mountaintop. The ascent is anything but easy, even for someone who succeeded at every waypoint. In 2014, she was a blue chip setter out of Eaglecrest High School. Her decorated collegiate career included multiple All-American honors and a Final Four appearance with the University of Illinois. By the time she graduated, she not only secured a job in the top Italian professional league but also captured the attention of the U.

BOULDER — From 5,280 feet, it looks more like a crazy wall or a conspiracy board than a conference map. The new Big 12 is a mess of pins connected by string, hope and quiet desperation. One of the longest stretches 2,074 miles, from Morgantown, W. Va. to Tucson, Ariz., from sweetgum trees to saguaros, with a layover in Cincinnati and a detour in central Iowa. This ain’t your daddy’s Big 12. Here’s what the Buffs’ new league isn’t: The back-biting conference they fled in 2010.