PHOENIX -- One moment, Kyle Karros was rounding the bases after the biggest hit of the Rockies’ night. The next, he was walking off the field under the watch of the training staff.
In between, the Rockies rallied from an early two-run deficit to defeat the Diamondbacks, 3-2, on Tuesday at Chase Field behind six gritty innings from starting pitcher Tomoyuki Sugano, plus a career milestone for closer Jordan Romano.
The Rockies looked lifeless early on as their scoreless innings streak reached 15 over the span of three games. That’s when Karros belted a two-run home run in the sixth, his 10th on the season, to knot the game at 2-2.
Just a half-inning later -- only 15 minutes of actual clock time later -- a scary collision on the infield ended Karros’ night.
In the bottom of the sixth, Arizona’s Ketel Marte rolled a one-out grounder to the space between Karros and Colorado shortstop Ezequiel Tovar. As both infielders angled for the ground ball, they collided and both went down as Marte reached safely.
Replays appeared to show that the right shoulder of Tovar may have collided with the face of Karros, who spun to the ground in pain. It appeared that had either player given way, the grounder looked playable.
Karros eventually walked off the field under his own power. Tovar stayed in the game.
“He’s going to be in the concussion protocol, so we’ll have an update tomorrow,” Rockies skipper Warren Schaeffer said just after the final out. “He's doing it right now.”
An inning later, a sacrifice fly off the bat of Mickey Moniak plated catcher Hunter Goodman to give the Rockies their first lead on the night and, ultimately, the win against their surging NL West rivals.
The hits came late, but the pitching kept things close for Colorado.
Sugano settled down after a rocky first inning that included home runs from Corbin Carroll and Marte, holding the D-backs scoreless over the next five frames. The veteran righty allowed just three hits after the opening inning and repeatedly worked out of traffic, including escaping a sixth-inning jam with a double play, keeping the Rockies in position to complete an unlikely comeback.
“I gave up the two solos but made the adjustments I was able to make according to the gameplan,” Sugano said through interpreter Yuto Sakurai. “More than anything, behind the plate, [Goodman] made adjustments as well. So that worked out.”
With his win, Sugano improved to 12-5, tying him for second in the National League and sixth in the Majors in victories despite pitching for a Rockies club that sits at 47-73.
“The best ones in the game are really good at adjusting midgame, hitter to hitter,” Schaeffer said. “He’s obviously been pitching a very long time and he knows how to do that well. You can’t do that unless you’re calm, under control, and you trust what you have. Tomo is all three of those things.”
After scoreless relief innings from Jimmy Herget and Brennan Bernardino, Romano came on to close it out with a scoreless ninth for his 11th save of the season, and his seventh with the Rockies since being selected from Triple-A on July 4.
Now in his eighth year in the Majors, with stints also with the Blue Jays, Phillies and Angels, Romano has recorded at least one save in each of the 30 current Major League ballparks. He joined the Rockies’ organization in May when Colorado signed the two-time All-Star closer to a Minor League contract after he was released by the Angels.
The Rockies, currently on their longest road trip of the season (11 days, nine games) will turn to righty Ryan Feltner in Wednesday’s matinee series finale in Phoenix. The Rockies will try to win their first series in Arizona since July 7-10, 2022.