The Diamondbacks found Colorado’s loose thread in the first inning Wednesday night and pulled hard enough to score four runs. They also spent most of the evening showing why one early outburst is not the same thing as offensive control.
Arizona’s 5-3 victory at Coors Field combined an excellent early opportunity with a long evening of protecting what it produced. The Diamondbacks were timely after a defensive mistake opened the inning. They were not consistently productive afterward.
Tim Tawa’s late homer mattered because it restored breathing room before Colorado made the ninth inning uncomfortable, not because it single-handedly rescued a lead that otherwise would have vanished.
With one out in the first, Ketel Marte reached second when Rockies left fielder Zac Veen was charged with a fielding error. Colorado had effectively given Arizona an extra base and an extra chance. Gabriel Moreno accepted the invitation with an RBI single, and Pavin Smith followed with another single after Geraldo Perdomo was called out on strikes following an overturned pitch decision.
Nolan Arenado then singled home Moreno. Corbin Carroll completed the four-run inning with a two-run triple, scoring Smith and Arenado. Four Arizona hits produced four runs, but every run was unearned because Marte had reached on the error. That is not a footnote; it is the shape of the inning.
Arizona deserves credit for turning the opening into actual damage. Moreno went 3-for-4, Arenado delivered a run-scoring hit and Carroll’s triple made the mistake costly. Still, Colorado starter Mason Adams did not issue a walk, struck out eight and worked six innings.
He allowed five hits and was charged with four runs but zero earned runs. The box score tells both stories: Colorado’s defense created the problem, and Arizona’s hitters made sure it became a four-run deficit.
Then the Diamondbacks went quiet. They had no hits from the second through fifth innings. Their next hit was Moreno’s sixth-inning single, which did not lead to a run because he was caught stealing after Perdomo struck out. For an offense that had just enjoyed four hits in one inning, the silence was long enough to let Colorado back into the game.
The Rockies chipped away against Merrill Kelly rather than producing one giant counterattack. Adael Amador doubled home Kyle Karros in the second. In the third, Ezequiel Tovar and Jake McCarthy singled, and Hunter Goodman’s sacrifice fly brought Tovar home.
Kelly finished after 5 1/3 innings with four hits, two runs, two strikeouts and one walk. It was a workmanlike start, and it kept Colorado from turning Arizona’s early advantage into an even bigger problem.
