DENVER (KDVR) — The Colorado Rockies lost an eighth-straight game Wednesday in front of the smallest crowd at Coors Field in a decade, outside of games with attendance restrictions.
There were 18,511 people in attendance as the Rockies fell 14-3 to the Pittsburgh Pirates. The stands had not been that empty since April 18, 2013, when the crowd was 18,341. That was also the last time attendance was below 19,000.
These attendance records are excluding games played during COVID restrictions in 2020 and 2021. No regular-season games had in-person fans in the 2020 season. In 2021, Coors Field attendance was first capped at 21,363 fans, then later at 35,101, before full-capacity crowds of 50,144 were allowed in June.
The game on April 18, 2013, was one of the coldest in MLB history, with a temperature of 28 degrees at first pitch. The coldest home game in Rockies history was a few days later on April 23, 2013, when it was 23 degrees as the game started.
Wednesday’s game was the Pirates’ first three-game sweep at Denver since 2019. Pittsburgh’s Rodolfo Castro hit a 458-foot homer and drove in four runs.
Colorado’s eight-game losing streak is the team’s longest since nine in a row last Aug. 27 to Sept. 4. The Rockies are a National League-worst 5-14.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.