Colorado sports notes: Rockies closer Seth Halvorsen placed on injured list with an elbow strain

DENVER (AP) — The Colorado Rockies have put closer Seth Halvorsen on the 15-day injured list with a right elbow strain after he had to leave Saturday's win over Pittsburgh.
Interim manager Warren Schaeffer said at the time the injury didn't look good — after the right-hander left after throwing five pitches in the ninth inning. Halvorsen leads the Rockies with 11 saves.
Colorado also recalled right-hander Nick Anderson and catcher Braxton Fulford from Triple-A Albuquerque on Sunday, and the Rockies optioned infielder Michael Toglia to Albuquerque.
The 25-year-old Halvorsen is 1-2 with a 4.99 ERA this year. He made his big league debut in August of 2024.
Spencer Horwitz homers twice, drives in 6 runs to lead Pirates to a 9-5 win over Rockies
DENVER (AP) — Spencer Horwitz homered twice and drove in a career-high six runs to lead the Pittsburgh Pirates to a 9-5 win over the Colorado Rockies on Sunday, avoiding a series sweep.
Horwitz hit a two-run homer in the second inning, added a three-run shot in the sixth and knocked in his sixth run with a ground out in the eighth. The Pirates' 27-year-old leadoff hitter has five homers and 31 RBIs in 61 games this season.
Nick Gonzales knocked in a run with an infield single in the first inning before Tommy Pham hit a two-run homer, his fifth, for Pittsburgh.
Pirates starter Mitch Keller (5-10) worked five innings and allowed seven hits and five earned runs with four strikeouts.
Mickey Moniak (two RBIs), Hunter Goodman and Jordan Beck (two RBIs) hit consecutive homers in the bottom of the sixth inning as the Rockies closed within 8-5.
Colorado starter Bradley Blalock (1-3) allowed seven earned runs on six hits in 5 2/3 innings, with two strikeouts and four walks.
Key moment
The Rockies seemingly found some momentum in the third inning when Yanquiel Fernández doubled. He jumped off the base when he got up from the slide, but was called safe. The Pirates challenged the call, which was overturned.
Key stat
Entering Sunday, Colorado had scored 21 runs in the fourth inning or later in the series. The Rockies scored one run in the fourth and four in the sixth in the loss.
Up next
The Rockies will send RHP Tanner Gordon (2-3, 4.85 ERA) in their home series opener against Toronto on Monday. The Blue Jays will start LHP Eric Lauer (6-2, 2.68).
The Pirates open a home series against San Francisco on Monday. RHP Justin Verlander (1-8, 4.53 ERA) will start for the Giants. Pittsburgh has not named a starter.
All-Pro defensive tackle Zach Allen agrees to 4-year, $102M extension with Denver Broncos
ENGLEWOOD, Colo. (AP) — Like teammate Courtland Sutton, Denver Broncos All-Pro defensive lineman Zach Allen didn't skip any days of training camp while his agent argued for a new contract.
Unlike Micah Parsons in Dallas, Trey Hendrickson in Cincinnati and Terry McLaurin in Washington, things never got contentious with the front office in Denver.
“This is my happy place,” Allen said Saturday after signing a four-year, $102 million extension with the Broncos that includes nearly $70 million in guarantees and makes him one of the NFL's highest-paid interior defensive linemen in average annual salary.
Allen said the way both sides “handled this was just awesome."
“The fact that we were able to go about this the way we have compared to probably some other things around the league is a testament to what we're building,” he said.
“It’s a business but it never got contentious,” Allen said. “And I think that was a cool thing was just the way that everybody handled it."
Allen said he told his agent, Tommy Condon, “I want to obviously get the best deal possible ... but I care about these people, I care about this place, and I don’t want it to get ugly. The way he went about it, the way the team went about it was awesome.”
Allen's extension came less than a week after Sutton signed a four-year, $92 million deal that features $41 million in guaranteed money. Sutton also thanked the Broncos' ownership group and general manager George Paton for the tenor of talks as he continued to take the field during training camp content in knowing a deal was at hand.
In many ways Allen has served as the fulcrum of Denver's dominant defense the last two seasons, applying pressure up the middle to augment the Broncos' premier pass rush and stellar secondary.
A third-round pick by Arizona out of Boston College in 2019, Allen joined the Broncos two years ago, following defensive coordinator Vance Joseph to Denver. He had five sacks in his first season in Denver and a career-best 8 1/2 sacks last season when he earned second-team All-Pro honors and the Broncos set a franchise record with a league-best 63 sacks.
Allen, who turns 28 this month, also set career bests last year with 15 tackles for loss and 40 quarterback hits while playing nearly 90% of Denver's defensive snaps and moving between end and tackle. He also led the league’s defensive tackles with 67 pressures, according to Next Gen Stats.
Allen is due $12.74 million this season, the final year of his three-year, $45.75 million deal he signed with Denver in 2023.
With deals in place now for Sutton and Allen, the Broncos' biggest contractual concern is rising star edge rusher Nik Bonitto, who is entering the final year of his rookie contrac. He also was named a second-team All-Pro last season when he led the team with 13 1/2 sacks.
Before camp began, Bonitto said he realized a deal might not get done until sometime during the season but knows he'll cash in eventually.
“Yeah, I mean, the edge market is kind of crazy right now knowing that everybody’s getting these big deals and it’s only getting bigger and bigger,” Bonitto said last month. “Luckily for me, I’m in a good position right now where the market’s kind of in my favor.”
Red River rivals Malcolm Roach, Marvin Mims Jr. add spice to Broncos camp with good-natured barbs
ENGLEWOOD, Colo. (AP) — Usually if there's any chirping going on at sweltering NFL training camps, it's between the massive offensive and defensive linemen who are pounding into each other or the wide receivers and cornerbacks fighting for 50-50 passes.
The biggest beef at the Denver Broncos' training camp this summer is between 6-foot-3, 290-pound defensive tackle Malcolm Roach, a notorious smack talker, and 5-11, 184-pound receiver Marvin Mims Jr., the NFL's reigning All-Pro punt returner.
Asked about the chirping back and forth at a spirited practice this week, Mims replied, “Yeah, I mean, it’s just Malcolm Roach. I mean, I sit next to him in the locker room, guy doesn’t shut up. He’s talking crap to receivers. It’s like, ‘Dude, like, you’re a fat guy. Like, go worry about that. Leave me alone.’”
They then took their “beef” to social media, jawing online.
Roach stepped up to the podium Friday knowing the first question would be about his good-natured bickering with Mims.
“Y'all think I really worry about 19?” Roach said. “I see him every day in the locker right by mine. Y'all think I talk? He really talks more than me. But I ain't worried about Marvin. Marvin knows he's not about to cut that ball back across the middle. That's all I have to say about that.”
Of course, Roach did have more to say.
“I can lose this weight,” Roach said. “He can't lose them looks.”
When coach Sean Payton was asked about the back-and-forth, he expressed surprise at the combatants.
“Malcolm, you hear him before you see him, and I like that energy about him," Payton said. "But, yeah, I wouldn't have picked Mims and Roach. I would have picked so many other combos."
Maybe it has roots in the Red River Rivalry. Roach went to the University of Texas; Mims hails from the University of Oklahoma.
First pick
Bo Nix finally threw his first interception of training camp, and it was a doozy. Safety Talanoa Hufanga made a leaping grab near the line of scrimmage for a pick-6 during team drills Friday.
“The interception, it was an RPO (run/pass option) and if you look at his distance from the throw I bet it was like eight yards,” Payton said. "And so to be able to go up and catch that with a crowded look in front of him? I'm anxious to seek it on film. I saw it from behind the line of scrimmage.”
That's the kind of play the Broncos are counting on this season from the free agent who left the San Francisco 49ers along with inside linebacker Dre Greenlaw to come to Denver last spring.
“You know, if I asked you to give us the best safeties that are in the Hall of Fame, the traits are always instincts and football smarts,” Payton said. "Some are faster than others, but it's hard to be real effective at that position if you don't have those football instincts. And certainly he brings that. I made a comment in the offseason: there's certain players the ball finds them, and he's one of those guys.
“So, that play was sick.”
Under construction
Construction of the Broncos' $175 million training facility hit a milestone Friday with a “ topping out ” ceremony to commemorate the final beam being lifted into place.
Team owner Carrie Walton Penner signed the timber before a giant crane lifted the structural beam from the north side of the construction site to the south facade.
The Broncos broke ground last year on the 205,000-square-foot facility that will combine their football and business operations under one roof for the first time in franchise history. It's scheduled for completion in May.