My son Lee and I made our annual baseball trip this past weekend to knock two of the remaining seven (out of 30) major-league stadiums off our bucket list. We saw two games at the Colorado Rockies’ Coors Field in Denver on Saturday and Sunday, and we will complete this year’s trip with a game on Monday at Phoenix’s Chase Field.

The game on Saturday was highly anticipated since the Rockies were playing the Pittsburgh Pirates. That meant we were going to get an opportunity to see major-league sensation Paul Skenes pitch for the Pirates. In only his second year out of LSU, Skenes is currently one of the top pitchers in the game. He made history in July by becoming the first pitcher to start an All-Star Game in his first two seasons. He’s one of the leading contenders for the NL Cy Young Award, despite having a losing record for the Pirates.

Skenes’ appearance was not only anticipated by us, but also by many LSU fans who showed up wearing purple and gold and created a lot of pre-game “Skenes buzz” in the stadium. It seemed like there were as many LSU fans there as hometown Rockies fans. (Colorado is the worst team in the majors this year, so it’s somewhat understandable why they don’t typically turn out in large numbers.)

Even though Skenes held the Rockies hitless for the first three innings, he was throwing a lot of pitches, often missing his spots. The big right-hander gave up his first hit in the fourth, and the Pirates held a 4-0 lead after five innings. Those runs came on two home runs by second baseman Liover Peguero, on a solo in the first inning and a three-run dinger in the fifth inning. Peguero was a recent callup by the Pirates in mid-July, but he didn’t come with power-hitter credentials.

But then Skenes and the Pirates ran into trouble in the sixth inning. He gave up a three-run homer to Jordan Beck and left runners on base when he was taken out of the game. Those runs were the first he had given up in 18 innings. The Rockies ended up scoring six runs in that inning, with four charged to Skenes. It wasn’t one of his better games, even though he still managed to strike out eight batters. We could feel the mood of the LSU fans change significantly after Skenes was lifted for a reliever.

The Rockies added another run in the seventh for a 7-4 lead, and then the game was interrupted by a heavy rain. We decided to stick it out and stay for the rest of the game. It turned out to be a good choice since we got to see Peguero hit his third homer of the game on another solo shot in the ninth. It was the first time we had ever seen that happen in all our baseball trips. It was a career-day for Peguero, who was the least likely Pirates player to pull it off. With a final score of 8-4, the Rockies won only their 30th game of the year against 80 losses.

If there was any consolation for LSU fans, they got to see two other former Tigers play for the Rockies. Austin Nola was the starting catcher who hit an RBI double, while Jaden Hill entered the game as a reliever for a scoreless sixth inning.

So that leaves only five more of the current 30 major-league stadiums for me to visit, including Seattle, Cincinnati, New York CitiField, Atlanta, and Oakland. Since Oakland Coliseum was closed after the 2024 season, with the A’s now playing temporarily in Sacramento until they move to their new stadium in Las Vegas, Lee and I might have to make them last. (By the way, I’ve been to 13 major-league stadiums that are no longer in use.) It’s been a nice run and I hope to finish.