DENVER -- Warren Schaeffer isn’t looking for consolation prizes.
The interim Rockies manager said as much after Orlando Arcia delivered a walk-off single to complete a spirited 8-7 comeback victory that salvaged the series finale against the Giants at Coors Field on Thursday afternoon.
“I know you said that we’re looking for victories other than [actual] victories,” Schaeffer said in response to a question about incremental growth. “But we got a victory. And that’s important. That’s very important.”
The man has a point. While it might be easy to look at Colorado’s 13-55 record and conclude that it’s not about winning here, that it’s about learning how to win with a young roster that has no near-term prospects for contention, does that make winning any less important?
Not to a club that lost a pair of games it feels it should have won in the first two contests of the series, in which the bullpen -- which has been one of the team’s bright spots -- relinquished late leads.
No, when Arcia’s single landed on Thursday, the result was a real victory. Not just a hidden one.
Why such an emphasis on the 13th win of the year when the Rockies are on pace for the worst record in the Modern Era of Major League Baseball?
“Arcia could’ve popped out to end the game,” Schaeffer said. “It would still have been a good battle going all the way to the end. But it’s more important to feel that victory.”
Unlike in the first two games in the series, the Rockies never led on Thursday until Arcia’s dispositive hit. This time, they fell into a hole early and chipped away throughout the game.
San Francisco scored four times in the second inning against starter Antonio Senzatela and added three more in the fifth, but the Rockies put small dents in the deficit with two in the fourth, one in the sixth and two in the seventh before a three-run rally to win it in the ninth.
Rookie Ryan Ritter came through with a two-run single in the fourth, Mickey Moniak hit a solo home run in the sixth and former Giants player Thairo Estrada hit a two-run double in the seventh before the ninth-inning coup de grace that extinguished the Giants’ hope of a sweep.
Ritter, the organization’s No. 11 prospect, per MLB Pipeline, has been in the Majors for about a week, but he’s already fitting right in both on the field and off. On Thursday, he finally got to experience a win at the Major League level.
“Yeah, it felt like every time it wouldn’t go our way,” he said about the series. “It was only a matter of time. You’ve got to keep going, trust the process, and here we go. Now, a happy flight.”
Indeed, Thursday’s thrilling victory is something this group can savor as it heads east to begin a seven-game road trip through Atlanta and Washington.
This win was big, and not only so that a young team that has slogged through the season to this point could taste the rare 2025 victory, particularly its first walk-off triumph of the season.
It was also big for veterans on the roster -- those who have been here for years and those who have been here for days.
“I mean, [the first two losses] were crushing,” said third baseman Ryan McMahon, whose first two big league seasons were the last two winning campaigns for Colorado, each resulting in a postseason berth, in 2017 and ’18.
“So to do what we did today, to not give up, keep fighting, I think overall that’s just big, right? You can look back on that and remember, ‘Hey, man, we’ve come back from situations like this before,’ and it kind of helps you and keeps you going.”
Along with starting pitchers Germán Márquez and Kyle Freeland, McMahon is the longest-tenured member of the Rockies. On the other end of the spectrum is the man who won Thursday’s game -- he has been with the club for nine games.
Still, it was huge for Arcia, too.
“I told my people that I came here to do a job,” Arcia said through an interpreter. “... To be able to deliver that today, ultimately, it feels very good.”
The Rockies can feel good about things for the moment. Because it’s not just about growing -- it’s also about winning.
Perhaps Arcia, the newest Rockie, said it best:
“Everyone needed this win.”