When things are cool for the Rockies, they’re ice cold. But when things go well, they go great. Today was, thankfully, the latter. Multiple key defensive plays, resilient pitching across the board, and several batters with multi-hit games came through for a dominant win.
After a less-than-ideal Friday night, the Rockies bounced back in winning fashion. With a dominant start from Tomoyuki Sugano, the Rockies pitching and defense were able to pave the way for their offense to overwhelm Cincinnati’s Rhett Lowder in a 10-3 win where just about everything went right for the Rockies, including the ability to capitalize on the Reds’ mistakes.
Sugano sailing and Reds reeling
The Rockies got the exact start they needed on both sides of the ball. Between Sugano hitting an early groove and making quick work of the Reds’ lineup early, finding a way to get runners on and bring them home, and capitalizing on Cincinnati’s miscues, the Rockies found themselves up 6-0 by the end of the second inning.
Sugano needed just seven pitches to get through the first inning. He got Elly de la Cruz (coming off of a four hit night) to ground out on the first pitch of the ballgame, Jake McCarthy ran down a deep line drive from Sal Stewart, and Sugano fanned JJ Bleday to sit down the side. He carried that momentum into the next inning, going 1-2-3 again on 10 pitches with another strikeout.
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The Rockies got an early two-run lead in the first inning. Jake McCarthy notched a leadoff double with an assist from the Colorado sunshine, after a seemingly harmless flyball plopped between center field and second base with the fielders losing it in the July sun. He tagged up and moved to third on a Mickey Moniak fly out before scoring on a Cole Carrigg double. TJ Rumfield got Carrigg the rest of the way home with an RBI single.
The Rockies added four more runs in the bottom of the second, stringing together an almost never-ending series of base knocks, with all runs coming on two outs. Brett Sullivan tripled between the first and second outs and then was scored on a perfect bunt from McCarthy.
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That was followed by a parade of singles from Moniak, Carrigg, Rumfield, and Willi Castro. There were lots of RBI to go around. When it was all said and done, the Rockies led 6-0. By the bottom of the inning, Cincinnati had the bullpen getting loose with Lowder nearing 40 pitches.
An early shower for Lowder
Sugano finally sustained some damage in the third inning. He’s been vulnerable to home runs this season; luckily, the vast majority of those have been solo shots. Jose Trevino added another one to the list to make it a 6-1 game. As he typically does, however, Sugano responded and limited things there.
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Lowder couldn’t say the same. The Reds let him go into the third, but he didn’t last long. Edouard Julien kicked the inning off with a double. An Ezequiel Tovar single put runners on the corners. That would be the end of Lowder’s day. He was replaced by Colorado’s own Julian Garcia, hailing from Fort Collins and playing his college ball at Metro State.
Garcia got McCarthy to ground out, but the play scored Julien. Moniak nabbed another single, bringing home another of Lowder’s baserunners to make it an 8-1 Rockies lead.
After yo-yoing between the Reds bullpen and rotation to make today’s start, Lowder finished with a whopping 11 hits and all eight runs earned in just 2.1 innings of work. The defense behind him didn’t do him any favors, but it was a struggle of a day for Lowder. His ERA on the season jumps up to 5.75.
Carrigg continues to shine
After coming in with a pinch-hit single on Friday night, Carrigg returned to the starting lineup Saturday. With a great day at the plate topped off with some wonderful defensive plays out in center field, Carrigg continues to be a bright spot in the lineup since his call up to the majors.
Carrigg made some pivotal catches, showing tremendous range and running down a few well hit balls. Especially of note was a sliding catch to end the fourth inning on a ball hit to left center.
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At the plate, Carrigg drove in the first run of the game and finished his day with two hits, one RBI, three runs, and a walk. In the sixth, he managed an impressive at-bat, battling back from being down two strikes to draw that walk, which would turn into another run thanks to a Rumfield homer blasted to the second deck to put the game at 10-2.
Goin’ up, up, up, another “Golden” performance from Sugano
As he’s done so many times this season, Sugano delivered a gem. This one wasn’t just good for his first game back from the injured list. It was good, period.
As mentioned earlier, he continued his susceptibility to giving up solo home runs. He gave up two today, both to Trevino, giving the Reds batter his second and third dingers on the season. But that’s about all that was working against Sugano today.
He was otherwise extremely efficient. He needed 10 or fewer pitches to get through four of his six full innings. Although he couldn’t make it all the way through the seventh, he ended his day after 6.1 IP, giving up three earned runs on six hits.
He made use of a nice balance of a wide arsenal of pitches. Of his 77 pitches thrown, he relied heavily on his sinker and splitter (26% each), mixed in his cutter (18%), and rounded things out mostly with sliders and four-seam fastballs (13% each). He sprinkled in just a few curveballs (three total for 4%). On the year, Sugano has relied on his four-seamer most heavily at 22%. With that dropping down to 13% today, he dominated with a mix of off-speed pitches.
Manager Warren Schaeffer lauded Sugano’s day, pointing to his “excellent fastball command, strong velo. His splitter was really good. He gave us just what we needed. Typical Tomo Sugano stuff.”
Firing on all cylinders
Aside from the well-deserved shoutouts to Sugano and Carrigg above, a number of other players pitched in to bolster the strong team effort. Carrigg, McCarthy, Moniak, and Rumfield all notched multi-hit games.
Of note, Rumfield looked incredible at the plate. He logged his first four-hit game in the majors with four RBI and a homer in five at-bats. With his best offensive performance of the season, Rumfield bolstered his NL Rookie of the Year case. On that topic, Schaeffer said “TJ’s making a very, very strong case for that, but he’s got another 6o games to go. So no let-up.” He praised Rumfield’s two Rookie of the Month wins.
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The bullpen looked great as well. Juan Mejia, Brennan Bernardino, and Zach Agnos worked through their innings with no earned runs of their own, effectively working out of any jams – but not allowing really any of those to begin with.
In the end, the Rockies played as a team, got ahead early, and never looked back, cruising to win number 40 in the 2026 campaign.
Up Next
Another Sunday, another rubber match.
The Rockies and Reds conclude the three-game series with a Sunday afternoon showdown before the Washington National come to town on Monday.
The Rockies are slated to send out Ryan Feltner (3-3 in 13 starts, 4.55 ERA). Cincinnati turns to a righty of their own in Hunter Greene (1-1 in two starts, 6.97 ERA).
First pitch is set for 1:10 p.m. MDT.
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