Diamondbacks 12, Rockies 8: Six in the First, Still Alive for San Diego

Six runs before Colorado recorded three outs

September 24, 2026 - Denver - Gabriel Moreno hit a three-run homer to left in the first, his 16th. Pavin Smith singled Geraldo Perdomo home. Nolan Arenado followed with a two-run shot to left-center, his 29th. 6-0. The Arizona Diamondbacks beat the Colorado Rockies 12-8 at Coors Field, swept the series, and left town still alive for a National League Wild Card with three games left in San Diego.

Cloudy. 70 degrees. Wind 8 mph in from right. First pitch 1:10 p.m. Attendance 22,511. The game lasted 3 hours, 14 minutes. Arizona had 18 hits. Colorado had 17. Nobody made an error. Coors still turned it into a 20-run afternoon.

"We came on this road trip knowing exactly what we needed to do, and that's win each day," James McCann said, per the MLB recap. "The focus and the talk in the clubhouse has been go 1-0 every day."

Gordon's 10, then a Rockies chase that stopped at eight

Tanner Gordon (the loss) faced 25 hitters in 3 1/3 innings: 12 hits, 10 earned, four walks, one strikeout, two homers, 96 pitches. Ketel Marte doubled Lars Nootbaar home in the second. Perdomo singled Marte home. 8-0. Smith doubled Perdomo in during the fourth. McCann singled Smith home. 10-0. Arenado singled Perdomo home in the fifth. 11-1 after Brett Sullivan forced TJ Rumfield across in the bottom of the fourth.

McCann homered to left in the sixth, his sixth. 12-1. That was the last Arizona run. It was also the last time the game felt finished.

Eduardo Rodriguez (the win) threw six innings: nine hits, two earned, no walks, three strikeouts, 92 pitches, 65 strikes. Kyle Karros hit his 13th in the sixth. 12-2. Dennis Santana inherited a 10-run lead in the seventh and did not keep it. Hunter Goodman singled Zac Veen home. Cole Carrigg hit an 11th homer to right-center, Goodman and Rumfield scoring with him. 12-6. Taylor Clarke allowed Veen's third homer and Rumfield's 30th double in the eighth. 12-8. Kevin Ginkel struck out the side in the ninth.

"We know where we are right now," Rodriguez said, per MLB.com. "We came here and won three games and that's really good for us. Now we got to go [to San Diego] and win every game, too."

Eighteen hits, and a board that still needs help

Arenado went 3-for-5 with three RBI. Perdomo went 3-for-5 with a triple, a walk, and three runs. Nootbaar went 3-for-6 with two runs. Smith went 2-for-3 with a double, a walk, two RBI, and two runs. Marte went 1-for-2 with a double, two walks, and two runs. McCann went 2-for-5 with two RBI. Moreno's three-run shot was his only hit.

Carrigg went 4-for-5 with three RBI. Veen went 2-for-2 with a homer and a double. Rumfield went 2-for-4. Connor Norby doubled twice in a 2-for-3. Colorado is 57-102. Seventeen hits were not enough after a first inning that put them in a hole they never climbed out of.

The Cubs clinched a berth by beating Miami. The Padres clinched by beating the Dodgers. Arizona's 12-8 kept the Diamondbacks from being eliminated. They are 85-74, two games behind the Phillies (87-72) for the third Wild Card, with three left at Petco Park. They need at least two wins and help from Tampa Bay against Philadelphia, per the MLB recap.

That is the version of Thursday that mattered in Denver. Not the seventh and eighth, when Colorado scored six. The first, when Moreno and Arenado made it 6-0, and the road trip Arizona said it had to sweep.

AthX Engine after the baseball

AthX Engine (our projection and scoring system) put Arizona at 19 team fantasy points, second on the slate. Rodriguez had 10 pitching FP. Perdomo and Arenado each had 9 hitting FP. McCann had 6. Smith had 8. Carrigg had 11 hitting FP in a loss. Gordon finished at minus-31.67 pitching FP.

Fantasy points measure the night under platform scoring rules. Share prices also move with traders through dynamic pricing. They are related. They are not the same number.

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*Sources: MLB.com schedule; MLB Gameday wrap; ESPN scoreboard; ESPN box score; AthX Engine daily scoring. Information only; not financial advice.*