The Colorado Rockies closed July by matching their entire 2025 win total.
Following an hour-long rain delay, Tomoyuki Sugano delivered 6.2 excellent innings, the Rockies converted five hits and two Kansas City errors into three runs against All-Star right-hander Michael Wacha, and Jordan Romano retired the Royals in order in the ninth to secure a 3-1 victory Friday night at Coors Field.
Colorado improved to 43-67, while Kansas City fell to 46-65. Last year’s Rockies did not reach win No. 43 until September 21.
Sugano earned the victory to improve to 11-4. Wacha fell to 5-8 despite striking out seven across six innings, and Romano recorded his ninth save.
Sugano controls the game
Tomoyuki Sugano did not overpower the Kansas City Royals. He simply controlled nearly every part of the game.
Sugano completed 6.2 innings on only 83 pitches, allowing one run on five hits. He did not issue a walk, struck out two and induced nine groundouts.
That line only begins to describe how firmly he controlled the night.
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Sugano used all seven pitches in his arsenal and refused to give Kansas City a stable look. His 24 splitters led the mix, followed by 17 four-seam fastballs and 13 cutters. He also threw eight sinkers, eight sliders, eight sweepers and five curveballs.
The splitter was his primary finishing weapon. It generated five whiffs on nine swings, accounting for five of Sugano’s eight swinging strikes. His sweeper provided a different type of value, producing three called strikes on only eight pitches.
Sugano’s four-seam fastball averaged 92.7 mph and topped out at 93.4 mph. Neither the velocity nor movement of his arsenal differed dramatically from his season norms.
Sugano opened with two harmless popups before striking out Jac Caglianone. He set up the finish with two splitters below the zone, then changed the hitter’s eye level with consecutive 93.3 mph four-seam fastballs. Caglianone chased the second above the zone.
Kansas City made its hardest early contact in the second.
Salvador Perez opened the inning with a sharp grounder that deflected off Ezequiel Tovar, but Kyle Karros immediately started a 5-6-3 double play. Isaac Collins then lined a ball that deflected off a diving Brenton Doyle and rolled all the way to the wall for a triple.
Sugano stranded him there.
John Rave grounded out to Tovar, and Sugano went on to retire the Royals in order in the third, fourth and fifth innings.
Carter Jensen saw four splitters in a six-pitch plate appearance to end the third, including the final one buried below the zone for a swinging strikeout. Kansas City then managed only one ball out of the infield in the fourth and three groundouts in the fifth.
Sugano’s lone marked mistake came with two outs in the sixth.
He fell behind Jensen 2-0 and left an 85.9 mph splitter in a hittable location. Jensen crushed it 424 feet to right at 102.5 mph.
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It was the 21st home run Sugano has allowed this season, but the 18th with the bases empty.
Lane Thomas followed the homer with a single, but Caglianone lined out to Doyle in center. Sugano returned for the seventh, allowed a soft leadoff single to Perez and retired the next two hitters before Warren Schaeffer went to the bullpen.
Sugano’s final numbers were excellent. Sugano was excellent.
Rockies find just enough against Wacha
Michael Wacha brought an All-Star résumé and a devastating changeup to Coors Field.
Colorado still reached him before he could settle into the game.
Mickey Moniak doubled with one out in the first, staying back on an 80.3 mph changeup and lining it into right field at 92.8 mph. Hunter Goodman struck out, but TJ Rumfield worked through a six-pitch at-bat and served another changeup into right for a two-out RBI single.
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Kyle Karros followed by jumping on a first-pitch cutter for a hard ground-ball single to center. The Rockies led 1-0 after one inning.
Wacha responded quickly.
He retired Colorado in order in the second, then struck out the side in the third. Jake McCarthy, Moniak and Goodman all went down on changeups.
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Wacha threw six pitch types, but his changeup controlled much of the night. He used it 31 times, more than any other offering, and generated 13 whiffs on 24 swings. Six of his seven strikeouts ended on the pitch.
His four-seam fastball averaged 92.9 mph, while the changeup sat at 81.4 mph. That separation allowed Wacha to disrupt timing without relying on overpowering velocity.
He paired it with cutters, four-seamers, sinkers and breaking balls, then repeatedly returned to it when he needed a finishing pitch.
Goodman saw five different pitch types before Wacha doubled up on the changeup for strike three. Wacha retired six straight hitters after the first inning, five by strikeout.
Karros interrupted that stretch in the fourth.
After Rumfield flew out, Karros lined an 81.2 mph changeup into left field at 103.1 mph. It was his second hit of the night and his second well-struck ball against Wacha.
Tyler Freeman grounded out to move Karros to second, and the inning began to unravel from there.
Troy Johnston hit a slow grounder between first and second. Michael Massey fielded it and threw toward Wacha covering first, but Wacha did not reach the bag in time. The throw went into the dugout, allowing Karros to score and Johnston to advance to second.
Brenton Doyle then ripped another 81.2 mph changeup past the diving Rojas and down the left-field line. The ball left Doyle’s bat at 96.8 mph, and Johnston scored to give Colorado a 3-0 lead.
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Tovar nearly added another run, but his drive to right was caught near the warning track.
Colorado did not create constant traffic against Wacha. It instead converted the few openings he allowed.
Rumfield drove in the first run with two outs. Karros created the fourth-inning opportunity with hard contact. Johnston forced the defense to make a play, and Doyle punished the next pitch.
Wacha remained difficult into the sixth.
Karros laid off a curveball and slider below the zone, fouled off a four-seam fastball and then watched Wacha paint the outside corner with a 92.3 mph fastball for strike three. The fastball worked because of everything that came before it. Karros had respected the offspeed stuff, and Wacha used that expectation to steal the edge with velocity.
Freeman followed with a 10-pitch plate appearance before lining a ball at Andrew Velazquez. The shortstop bobbled it but recovered in time to make the play.
Johnston then did nearly everything right. He worked the count, laid off a tempting fastball near the top of the zone and lined a 100.5 mph drive to right with an 18-degree launch angle, but John Rave tracked it down for the final out of the inning.
Wacha completed six innings on 99 pitches. He allowed three runs, only one earned, on five hits without issuing a walk.
Bullpen finishes Sugano’s work
Antonio Senzatela entered with Perez at second and two outs in the seventh.
John Rave immediately lined a first-pitch fastball into center, but Brenton Doyle came up ready to throw and Perez held at third. Josh Rojas then lifted a fly ball to left that Jake McCarthy handled without difficulty.
Senzatela returned for the eighth and struck out pinch-hitter Nick Loftin before Warren Schaeffer turned to Brennan Bernardino.
Bernardino retired Carter Jensen on a grounder to first, walked Lane Thomas and got Jac Caglianone to ground out to TJ Rumfield. Kansas City again failed to turn traffic into a run.
The Rockies went quietly in the bottom of the eighth, leaving Jordan Romano a two-run lead to protect.
Romano did not allow the Royals to make the ninth uncomfortable.
He struck out Salvador Perez, got Michael Massey to fly out to McCarthy and finished the game when Isaac Collins lifted a high fly into shallow right.
Cole Carrigg settled under it for the final out.
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Carrigg’s catch secured the 3-1 victory in his first major-league appearance in right field.
The bullpen combined for 2.1 scoreless innings. Senzatela and Bernardino each recorded two outs, while Romano completed a perfect ninth with one strikeout to earn the save.
Final thoughts
Tomoyuki Sugano was outstanding.
He needed only 83 pitches to record 20 outs, did not issue a walk and kept Kansas City from building a sustained inning.
Sugano entered the night as a possible trade candidate. If this was his final start in purple, he gave the Rockies exactly the kind of performance that made him valuable in the first place.
Kyle Karros finished 2-for-3 and scored twice. His 103.1 mph single was the hardest-hit ball by a Rockies batter, and he continued to show the zone awareness that makes his plate appearances compelling. Even his called strikeout in the sixth came after a disciplined battle that Wacha won through sequencing and location.
Troy Johnston did not record a hit, but twice lined the ball sharply directly at a defender. Results have been difficult for Johnston, but his process and contact were better than his final line.
Cole Carrigg replaced Johnston in the eighth for his first appearance in right field. Carrigg has played overwhelmingly in center, with limited time at shortstop, and added another position to his defensive résumé before recording the final out.
Colorado finished 2-for-8 with runners in scoring position and produced two two-out RBI. Kansas City went 1-for-3 with runners in scoring position and left five runners aboard.
The Rockies entered the night with 42 wins.
They reached No. 43 before the calendar turned to August, matching their entire 2025 total and closing July with another sign of progress.
Up next
The Rockies and Royals continue their three-game series Saturday at Coors Field, with first pitch scheduled for 6:10 p.m. MDT.
Kansas City will start right-hander Luis Avila, who enters at 5-3 with a 4.95 ERA and 59 strikeouts. Colorado will counter with right-hander Ryan Feltner, who is 3-5 with a 5.73 ERA and 54 strikeouts.
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