Rockies extend alcohol sales at Coors Field to end of 8th inning

With the pitch clock speeding up the pace of play, the Rockies are giving fans an extra inning to buy brews.

The Rockies will push back the cutoff on alcohol sales from the end of the seventh inning to the end of the eighth inning, the club announced Thursday. The change to the longstanding MLB policy is effective starting with the April 17 game against the Pirates, the beginning of the next home series at Coors Field.

“After monitoring the effects of the 2023 MLB rule changes at Coors Field and other ballparks across Major League Baseball, the Colorado Rockies will extend alcohol sales at Coors Field,” the club tweeted.

Colorado joins a handful of other teams across the league in pushing alcohol sales to the end of the eighth, as the Diamondbacks, Brewers, Rangers and Twins have also made the change. The Astros have extended sales through end of the game at certain locations in Minute Maid Park, while the Orioles already had beer sales through the eighth inning (or 3 1/2 hours after first pitch). More teams are expected to follow with their own changes to alcohol sales policy.

The accelerated action was noticeable through the first homestand at Coors Field, as the Rockies’ home opener lasted just two hours and 18 minutes in a 1-0 win over the Nationals. The average time for the seven games was two hours, 33 minutes, and each game’s early innings (when both starters were still in) progressed much more rapidly than in years past.

“With the pitch clock, you’re going to see more games like (the home opener) that are well-pitched, with very few walks, and it’s going to move,” Rockies manager Bud Black observed. “If you’re out on Blake Street, if you’re out on Wazee having one more — you’re going to miss a couple innings… That one more might have to be a little bit earlier.”

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