PHOENIX -- It wasn't a thing of beauty, but the Diamondbacks were happy to take the win.
Corbin Carroll’s single to right in the bottom of the ninth scored Gabriel Moreno from second base as the Diamondbacks walked off the Rockies, 2-1, on Thursday night to run their winning streak to five games.
"It was a little bit of a grinding night," Arizona manager Torey Lovullo said. "It didn't have a great flow to it, didn't feel great watching in the dugout. It was a fighting, grinding, chewing-on-rocks type of win."
Arizona has now won six of its last seven games and is seven games into a stretch of 13 straight games against the Rockies and Giants. Since 2023, the Diamondbacks are 18-3 against the Rockies at Chase Field.
Here are some key details and moments from the game:
Nice job by the starters
Both starters pitched well, with the Rockies’ Zach Agnos tossing five scoreless innings in his first career start. The right-hander allowed just one hit and one walk while striking out four.
Eduardo Rodriguez, meanwhile, did not allow a run over seven innings of work and managed to wiggle out of jams in both the fifth and sixth innings.
"E-Rod went out there and dialed up seven unbelievable innings and kept us in the game and walked off the mound with a chance to win," Lovullo said.
Rodriguez left up 1-0 thanks to a sixth-inning rally off reliever Blas Castaño when Ryan Waldschmidt drew a leadoff walk, advanced to third on a single and scored on a groundout.
A rare bad outing from Morillo
Juan Morillo has been one of the Diamondbacks' best relievers this year, and Lovullo has gone to him often late in games. So often, in fact, that the manager began to get concerned about the number of appearances Morillo was on track to have.
So, the plan was to give him a bit of a breather. When he was called on to open the eighth inning, he hadn't pitched since last Sunday in Colorado, when he threw four pitches.
It could have been rust, but Morillo was not sharp as he allowed back-to-back one-out singles, issued a walk to load the bases and then hit a batter to force in a run and allow the Rockies to tie the game.
Ginkel saved the day
Lovullo then summoned Kevin Ginkel, who got Hunter Goodman to pop out and Ezequiel Tovar to bounce out to end the inning with the game still tied.
Ginkel had warmed up earlier, then sat down, then got up and got hot again before coming into the game.
"Kevin Ginkel was unreal today," Lovullo said.
The at-bats that set up the winner
Carroll's game-winner will get plenty of attention and deservedly so, but it wouldn't have mattered had it not been for what happened before he got to the plate.
With Juan Mejia on the mound, Moreno led off the ninth, ran the count to 3-2 before fouling off three straight pitches and then drawing a walk.
Pinch-hitter Jose Fernandez moved Moreno to second on a sacrifice bunt, and after Waldschmidt struck out, Ketel Marte drew a walk to set the stage for Carroll.
"To get there, you got to talk about the two at-bats before that," Carroll said. "Moreno and Marte taking really quality at-bats."
The game-winner
As Carroll left the dugout to head to the on-deck circle, Lovullo had a message for him.
"Go be great," he told him.
Carroll jumped ahead in the count 2-0 before Mejia evened things up at 2-2 after Carroll fouled off a sweeper.
"He was timed up to it, so I knew that there was a chance he could unload on it," Lovullo said.
Mejia came back with another sweeper, and Carroll grounded it through the right side to score Moreno easily.
"I've faced him a couple times now and it's a good heater and a good slider as well," Carroll said. "So just happy to get the job done."