Rockies outlast Rangers 7-6 as Texas starter Mackenzie Gore leaves with injury after 1 inning

DENVER (AP) — Texas starter MacKenzie Gore surrendered a two-run double to Ezequiel Tovar and then left with an injury after one inning as the Rangers lost 7-6 to the Colorado Rockies on Monday night.

Willi Castro doubled leading off the first against Gore (3-4), and Brenton Doyle and TJ Rumfield drew walks to load the bases. Tovar doubled with one out.

Gore dived for the ball on a swinging bunt by Jake McCarthy that reloaded the bases. He remained in the game and struck out Kyle Karros before getting rookie Sterlin Thompson to ground out, then was replaced by Peyton Gray to start the second.

Jose Quintana (2-2) allowed three runs on seven hits in 5 2/3 innings and left with a three-run lead.

Victor Vodnik began the eighth with a 7-3 lead and left without retiring a batter, allowing a double by Josh Jung and two walks. Brennan Bernardino gave up a two-run single to Ezequiel Duran and an RBI grounder, but he retired pinch-hitter Kyle Higashioka on a popup to preserve a one-run lead.

Juan Mejia allowed a two-out single to Jake Burger in the ninth before completing his third save in three opportunities. It was his sixth straight scoreless appearance.

The Rockies scored two in the third when Karros hit a grounder to third baseman Jung for a two-out error. Gray allowed two more runs in the fourth.

Rookie Justin Foscue went 3 for 3 and drove in three runs with his first two doubles and his second homer — a solo shot off Quintana in the fifth. Duran went 3 for 4 and scored twice.

Colorado improved to 10-13 at home this season and 19-11 against the Rangers at Coors Field.

The Rockies haven't announced who will start opposite Rangers RHP Kumar Rocker (1-4, 4.34) on Tuesday.

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Colorado Rockies' Willi Castro, right, follows the flight of his RBI double off Texas Rangers relief pitcher Gavin Collyer in the sixth inning of a baseball game Monday, May 18, 2026, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

Texas Rangers' Ezequiel Duran follows the flight of his single taht drove in two runs off Colorado Rockies relief pitcher Brennan Bernardino in the eighth inning of a baseball game Monday, May 18, 2026, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

Colorado Rockies third baseman Kyle Karros throws to first base to put out Texas Rangers' Evan Carter in the eighth inning of a baseball game Monday, May 18, 2026, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

Colorado Rockies relief pitcher Juan Mejia pulls out his shirt after retiring Texas Rangers' Danny Jansen for the final out in a baseball game Monday, May 18, 2026, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

Texas Rangers catcher Danny Jansen, left, confers with starting pitcher MacKenzie Gore, right, after Gore loaded the bases in the first inning of a baseball game against the Colorado Rockies, Monday, May 18, 2026, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

RANCHO PALOS VERDES, Calif. (AP) — It’s no stretch to say that in the battle of wills, visions and, yes, national titles being waged across the college-sports landscape, the Big Ten has taken the lead.

Leaders in the conference currently holding the football, men’s and women’s basketball titles opened their annual spring meeting Monday with nothing more than the future of their business on the agenda.

“It seems like we’re paddling beneath the surface and we don’t really know what direction we’re going in,” said coach Dusty May, whose Michigan men’s basketball team won the championship a mere six weeks ago. “There’s no easy solution to this. There’s no logical solution. There’s going to have to be some give and take.”

A few big-ticket items have, in fact, been resolved over the past month:

— The NCAA expanded March Madness from 68 to 76 teams and opened a new $300 million revenue stream to fund it through beer and wine sponsorships.

— The College Sports Commission won the first big arbitration case in a test of its authority to enforce rules governing name-image-likeness payments to athletes that are now the norm — and are putting college sports programs in financial jeopardy.

Even those issues, however, aren’t fully resolved — For example, will the arbitration decision involving Nebraska football players lead to a lawsuit? — and they only scratch the surface of what's yet to be hashed out.

Whatever conclusions the Big Ten comes to this week will only be one piece of the puzzle. The SEC gathers next week in meetings that will direct their own league’s business with a view of the wider picture in mind.

The size of the College Football Playoff seems to be the most digestible of the thus-far intractable standoffs, but still, there’s no resolution on the horizon.

In this, the Big Ten also seems to have taken a step forward. A year ago, the conference stood alone in advocating for a move from 12 to 24 teams, while the SEC’s more-limited suggestion, a move to 16 teams, felt like a more plausible option, and one commissioner Greg Sankey is still standing by.

But in the past few weeks, the Atlantic Coast and Big 12 conferences, along with the American Football Coaches Association, have all signaled their preference for 24 teams, which would provide more access.

“If you’re going to ask presidents and chancellors and boards to continue to invest in their football programs, it’s really important that they have hope,” ACC commissioner Jim Phillips said last week.

Expansion would also likely bring about the need to abolish conference title games, which are increasingly meaningless and would be more so in, say, a world where the first- through fourth-place teams in every conference end up in the playoffs.

Another unchanged element: The Big Ten and SEC have all the power in this conversation and they do not agree. The upcoming season’s playoff will be a 12-team affair and the (plausibly movable) deadline to change for 2027 is Dec. 1.

The start of the Big Ten meeting came while debate continued in Washington about legislation that could provide stability.

The so-called SCORE Act was on the schedule in the House rules committee for Tuesday, but this bill has languished in Congress for more than a year. Opponents, mostly Democrats, don’t want to give the NCAA the limited-liability protection it seeks, along with other elements they fear will undercut the rights of players.

And on Monday, the Congressional Black Caucus added a new twist, pointing to the recent Supreme Court ruling that opened the door for Southern states to eliminate Black-majority voting districts as a reason to object.

“At the very moment those same communities face coordinated attacks on their democratic representation, too many leaders across college athletics have chosen silence,” the caucus said in a statement.

Meanwhile, negotiations continue between the two big-name policymakers on the issue in the Senate — Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Maria Cantwell, D-Wash. If they come up with a bill that could garner the 60 votes needed to pass the upper chamber, it would likely be the closest thing anyone has seen to something that could actually become a law.

The NCAA is moving closer to changing eligibility rules as we know them by eliminating most redshirt seasons and giving most players five years to complete five seasons of eligibility.

In a world in which athletic departments are struggling to allocate a shifting amount of funds ($20.5 million in revenue sharing from the schools combined with untold millions from third parties), having a better gauge of how long players will be at their schools is seen as helpful.

“We probably all look out for our own self-interest too often,” said May, who won the title with a roster full of transfers. “But at Michigan, if we do take a transfer, that gives us a chance to almost assure them they’re going to get their degree while they’re still on scholarship.”

The NCAA would also like to stop getting sued over eligibility rules, though without action from Congress, this one would appear to open a whole new set of lawsuits.

Underpinning all this discussion is the future of NIL and the agency created to police it -- the CSC.

The “participation agreement” the commission sent out to Power 4 schools late last year hasn't been signed by all, which brings into question the commission's ability to function as a robust enforcement arm.

The CEO, Bryan Seeley, will be in town Tuesday to present to the conference athletic directors.

Last week, news of the arbitration win came as he was doing the same at the ACC. He called it a win, but hardly the final say on the matter, some of which revolves around schools unwilling or unable to sign away their ability to take legal action.

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FILE - Michigan head coach Dusty May celebrates by cutting down the net after defeating UConn in the NCAA college basketball tournament national championship game at the Final Four, April 6, 2026, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy, File)

FILE - The Big Ten logo is seen on the field at Husky Stadium during an NCAA college football game, Oct. 25, 2025, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson, File)