Rays 9, Rockies 7: Liam Hicks's Homer Sends Tampa Bay to a Second Straight Coors Win

August 4, 2026 - Denver - Coors Field produced another slugfest, and for the second night in a row, Tampa Bay came out on top of it.

Liam Hicks drove in four runs on a 2-for-5 night that included a home run and a double, and the Rays outlasted the Colorado Rockies 9-7 in a game that never let either side feel comfortable.

Hicks has the best night of his season

Hicks's homer to right field, 402 feet, plated Richie Palacios, Taylor Walls, and Jonathan Aranda, the kind of one-swing damage that can single-handedly decide a game at altitude. It was easily the best offensive performance of his season, and it gave Tampa Bay the cushion it needed against a Rockies lineup that never stopped hitting back.

Colorado had its own answers all night. Mickey Moniak crushed a three-run, 380-foot homer, his 19th of the season, and Willi Castro added a career-high 13th home run of his own. Between the two lineups, the Rays finished with 12 hits and the Rockies with 11, a track meet more than a pitchers' duel from the opening pitch.

The bullpen battle that decided it

With both offenses trading blows, this one came down to which bullpen could get outs first. Garrett Cleavinger picked up the win in relief, and Bryan Baker closed it out for his 32nd save, holding a Rockies lineup that had already shown it could strike at any moment. It's the second night in a row the Rays have needed exactly that kind of late-inning stability in this series, a testament to a bullpen that's quietly been one of Tampa Bay's biggest strengths all season.

A series that's become a pattern

Back-to-back 13-9 and 9-7 finals in the same series is not a coincidence, it's Coors Field doing what Coors Field does to two offenses that both like to hit the ball hard. For the Rays, it's also validation of a lineup that's produced across the board since adding Freddy Peralta at the deadline, even in games decided more by bats than by that same pitching depth.

AthX Engine angle

Hicks's four-RBI night was worth 12 hitting fantasy points, part of a Rays attack that posted 14 AthX Engine team fantasy points on the night, solid without being the top of the slate in a game that saw scoring spread across both rosters. Colorado finished at 4 team FP, its second straight loss in this series despite two more long home runs from Moniak and Castro, a reminder that AthX Engine rewards the winning side's full body of work, not just standout individual power.

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What it means

Tampa Bay's bullpen keeps closing the door on high-scoring nights, exactly the profile that's made the Rays a perennial overachiever even in a ballpark built to favor offense. Colorado's power is real, back-to-back multi-homer nights prove that, but the Rockies need a cleaner bullpen performance to turn these slugfests into wins instead of near-misses.

*Sources: MLB.com gameday final, AthX Engine daily scoring for August 4, 2026. Information only; not financial advice.*