Diamondbacks 7, Rockies 2: Soroka at Coors, Arenado Almost Cycles

Seven innings at altitude, and a 3-for-5 in the park he used to own

September 22, 2026 - Denver - Michael Soroka grew up in Calgary. Coors Field is higher. He still treats it like a place he has seen. Seven innings. Two hits. One earned. Nine strikeouts. One walk. Ninety-three pitches.

The Arizona Diamondbacks beat the Colorado Rockies 7-2. Partly cloudy. 76 degrees. Wind 5 mph right to left. First pitch 6:40 p.m. Attendance 19,324. The game lasted 2 hours, 29 minutes. Arizona had 13 hits and two errors. Colorado had three hits and one error.

Nolan Arenado went 3-for-5 with a homer and a double in his return to Denver. He missed the cycle by a triple. Manager Torey Lovullo had told the club to control the game in front of them. The Phillies had already won 6-4. The Cubs and Padres had lost. Arizona is four back of all three with five to play.

"All we can take care of is our business here in Colorado," Lovullo said. "We've got life. We've got a heartbeat. We don't have an 'E' next to our name."

Three in the first, then Freeland was already chasing

Ildemaro Vargas reached. Gabriel Moreno doubled him home. Geraldo Perdomo singled Moreno home. Corbin Carroll doubled Perdomo home. 3-0 before Kyle Freeland (4-11) had a second inning. Freeland lasted three: nine hits, five earned, one walk, two strikeouts, 69 pitches.

Tim Tawa hit a ground-rule double in the third, Arenado scoring. 4-0. Colorado got both of its runs in the bottom half. Mickey Moniak hit his 23rd to right-center. Troy Johnston doubled and scored on Connor Norby's sacrifice fly. 4-2. That was the Rockies' night. Three hits. Two runs. Soroka did not give them another look that turned into a rally.

Moreno's sacrifice fly in the fourth scored Vargas again. 5-2. Tawa's sacrifice fly in the fifth scored Jordan Lawlar. 6-2. Arenado hit his 28th to left in the seventh. 7-2. Arizona kept tacking. Colorado never climbed back to a one-swing game.

Arenado finished 3-for-5 with two runs and an RBI. Perdomo went 3-for-5 with a steal and an RBI. Vargas went 2-for-4 with a walk and two runs. Moreno went 1-for-4 with a double and two RBI. Carroll went 1-for-4 with the double and an RBI. Tawa went 1-for-2 with a walk, a double, and two RBI. Ketel Marte went 1-for-5. Lawlar doubled and scored. The 13 hits were the whole club, not one swing.

Moniak went 1-for-3 with the homer. Johnston doubled. Cole Carrigg singled. Hunter Goodman, TJ Rumfield, Zac Veen, and Kyle Karros went a combined 0-for-15. Colorado is 57-100. A 7-2 at home against a club still playing for October is a night the lineup never started.

Soroka did not look at the scoreboard

Soroka (9-5) has allowed three earned runs in 12 2/3 innings across two starts at Coors this year. He said the feel is normal, and that Moreno called the game after each inning based on what was holding up and what was sinking.

"The only thing that mattered for me tonight was what we were doing," Soroka said. "While I'm out there the only thing that mattered was us."

Lovullo signed him as a free agent last winter with little noise. The recap called it one of the reasons Arizona is still in the hunt. "He's been very consistent," Lovullo said. "He's been very dependable. Once he takes the mound and starts to attack, he's got really good stuff that's going to allow him to go into different quadrants of the strike zone."

Juan Morillo and Kevin Ginkel each threw a scoreless inning after him. Zach Agnos threw four for Colorado and allowed Arenado's homer. Nick Frasso threw a clean ninth. The pitching story was the first seven innings, not the last two.

Arenado admitted he checked the out-of-town board. "It's easy," he said. "We got a job to do. We know that, but you know it's kind of fun looking over there. You know it's not fun when we see the teams that are winning that shouldn't be. Besides that, we're human. We're trying to compete."

Arizona is 83-74. Five games left. The math is no longer in their hands. A 7-2 with 13 hits and a seven-inning start at Coors is the version of controlling what they can control. Soroka did not look up. The rest of the clubhouse did, then still scored seven.

AthX Engine after the baseball

AthX Engine (our projection and scoring system) put Arizona at 15 team fantasy points, fifth on the slate. Soroka had 27 pitching FP, fourth among pitchers. Arenado had 9 hitting FP. Colorado finished at minus-4.

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: ESPN recap and box score, MLB.com Gameday wrap, MLB.com schedule, and AthX Engine scoring. Information only; not financial advice.*