Rockies bit by Diamondbacks early and can’t dig out of deep hole, falling 9-0

fPHOENIX, AZ - AUGUST 10: Nolan Arenado #28 of the Arizona Diamondbacks rounds the bases after hitting a grand slam home run in the first inning during the game between the Colorado Rockies and the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field on Monday, August 10, 2026 in Phoenix, Arizona. (Photo by Julia Jacome/MLB Photos via Getty Images) | MLB Photos via Getty Images

The Colorado Rockies have had a few games in recent weeks where mistakes piled up and got the best of them. They have also had their fair share of games where the bats go cold and nothing comes together offensively. On top of that, they’ve had some games where starting pitching puts them in an insurmountable hole.

Tonight, all three of those were true.

Michael Soroka, coming back to the Arizona Diamondbacks’ rotation after a stint on the injured list, kept the Rockies’ bats at bay. They couldn’t get much going when he was gone, either.

Gabriel Hughes struggled with his command tonight and what could have been a clean first inning turned quickly into a disaster thanks to an early grand slam.

Wild pitches, walks, fielding miscues, and a do-nothing offense were all the recipe for the wrong end of a very forgettable shutout to start this series.

A wild (almost literally and then figuratively) first inning

Picking up where he left off, Soroka dominated the Rockies in the top of the first inning, showing no rust from the injury that sidelined him since mid-June.

Through the early part of the 2026 season, Soroka relied primarily on his four-seam fastball and his slurve at 33% each. Both of those pitches factored in heavily through the first. He sat the scorching hot Jake McCarthy down on just four pitches, getting him to swing and strikeout on a slurve down low after peppering him with fastballs and a changeup. Cole Carrigg and TJ Rumfield put balls in play for outs as the Rockies went down 1-2-3.

It felt like we were on the way to a scoreless first. Unfortunately for Gabriel Hughes and the Rockies, that was far from the case.

Hughes was able to get two quick outs, with Geraldo Perdomo grounding hard up the middle to Carrigg making his second career start at shortstop, and with Corbin Carroll lining out to second. Things took a turn with Gabriel Moreno hitting a triple to the corner in right.

Hughes then threw a sweeper that fell deep into the dirt. Initially, it was ruled a wild pitch that scored Moreno. The Rockies correctly challenged, claiming the ball hit batter Ketel Marte. With runners on first and third and a chance to escape, Hughes walked Lars Nootbar to load the bases. Up next… old friend Nolan Arenado. Because of course he did, Arenado knocked a grand slam to left giving the D-backs an early 4-0 lead.

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By the end of the first, Hughes was already over 30 pitches and looking shaky throughout.

When it rains, it pours

The action remained one-sided through the second inning.

While Hunter Goodman drew a walk, Soroka responded by sitting down the next three batters, including two more strikeouts. Back again with his slurve, Soroka got Mickey Moniak to chase one low. He also got Willi Castro to strike out on a foul tip with another slurve.

The Arizona Cardinals are fresh off of the Hall of Fame Game, so the Diamondbacks followed in their footsteps with a touchdown of their own, extending their lead to seven by the end of the second inning.

Ryan Waldschmidt connected for a single to jumpstart the action. Hughes continued to struggle with his command and walked Perdomo after a six pitch at bat. A Carroll double drove in run number five before another Hughes wild pitch (this one recorded as such) scoring the next run.

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Hughes would walk Moreno after getting ahead in the count and then issuing four straight balls all over the zone on a mix of pitches. A Marte single made it 7-0. By the end of the second, Hughes hit 62 pitches.

Colorado broke through with their first hit of the game with one out in the third inning (a Troy Johnston single), but it was all for not. Despite McCarthy notching another single, Carrigg lined into an unassisted double play to end things.

Even though it didn’t amount to more runs, Kyle Karros had an uncharacteristic error in the inning that seemed to encapsulate the Rockies’ night.

A one-sided pitching matchup

The middle innings went by and gave the scoreboard a break, despite some action on the basepaths.

Both pitchers were yanked in the fifth inning, but their starts couldn’t have been any more different.

After nearly two months away, Arizona pulled Soroka with a seven-run cushion after he hit the 77-pitch mark. He wasn’t able to hit a full five innings to be in line for the win but finished his day at 4.1 scoreless innings pitched. He allowed just three hits and logged four strikeouts, dropping his ERA on the year to 2.92. As hinted at earlier, Soroka was dangerous with the slurve, posting a 32% usage rage and a 44% whiff rate with it tonight.

Hughes had two awful innings followed by two scoreless ones. His line ended at 4.0 innings pitched with seven earned runs on five hits alongside three walks and three strikeouts. As he typically does, Hughes mainly worked with his four-seamer (64% usage tonight, compared to 55% on the season).

After the game, Warren Schaeffer noted that Hughes “just lost command. Lost command with the fastball. Lost command with the breaking ball. Gabriel usually attacks the strike zone with his stuff and it just seemed like he had a tough time doing that tonight.”

Hughes said the same about his own performance, noting that “any day where you’re close to 50/50 on strikes and balls isn’t going to be a good one.” He lamented “putting (his) team in a hole pretty early. And it’s hard to come back from seven runs after two innings.” He falls to 0-4 on the season.

Soroka was replaced by Zack Littell and Hughes was relieved by Zach Agnos.

Things calm down through the bullpen innings – until the end

The score established in the first two innin...

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