Sugano and the Rockies sink Skenes and the Pirates in a 2-1 pitchers’ duel

With how Friday night shook out and with how the Colorado Rockies battled the Pittsburgh Pirates in their first meeting with Paul Skenes, tonight’s game had all the makings of another close one. Tomoyuki Sugano (菅野 智之) put together one of his best performances of 2026, if not the best. As expected, Skenes did Skenes things, too.

Maybe less expected were the inside-the-park home run to keep the Rockies in the game early, the consistent pressure from the Rockies offense, and a twist ending to a bases loaded jam in the bottom of the ninth. While not your typical Coors Field game, the Rockies put together a fun win in front of a raucous crowd for win number 30.

Leadoff hitters shape the game early

The Pirates leadoff hitter, Spencer Horowitz, was almost the casualty of a one-pitch out. He popped up to third base, but Willi Castro lost track of the traveling ball in foul territory and couldn’t make the out. Horowitz made the most of his second chance and hammered a no-doubter to right field to give the Bucs an early 1-0 lead. Sugano has been susceptible to solo homers this season, but he also has a track record of bouncing right back. He did just that and worked out of the rest of the inning.

The Rockies responded in kind with some leadoff magic of their own. Jake McCarthy smacked a ball to deep center field that Jake Mangum tried to make a diving grab on. The ball got past Mangum and rolled to the wall, prompting McCarthy to turn on the jets. He ditched his batting helmet after rounding second for maximum speed and aerodynamics, then sped his way home for a thrilling inside-the-park home run to even the game at one all.

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Cole Carrigg led off the bottom of the second and almost kept the momentum going, before running (literally) into a learning moment. He started the inning off with a speedy double — the first of his career. Edouard Julien flied out to deep center, but unfortunately Carrigg made a bad baserunning read and failed to tag up. Stuck at second, he then looked to make up for it with a steal but made things worse by getting picked off. Ezequiel Tovar struck out next to end the inning.

A classic Coors Field pitchers’ duel

The middle innings were a battle between two pitchers who refused to blink. Despite some occasional traffic, runs were hard to come by and the game remained tight.

In a refereshing change of pace from their last outing against him, the Rockies were able to chip away at Skenes and generate consistent pressure throughout the early innings. While they weren’t able to capitalize enough to do much damage, they made the ace work for it.

Following the inside-the-park homer in the first, the Rockies basepaths were active in the third and fourth. McCarthy struck again in the bottom of the third with a one out double. Two batters later, TJ Rumfield hit a line drive deep enough to bring McCarthy home and give the Rockies the 2-1 lead.

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Colorado had another prime opportunity in the fourth, but it slipped away. After walking Troy Johnston to start the inning and hitting Carrigg with a pitch to put runners on first and second with no outs, Skenes recovered. Julien lined out to left, too shallow to move Johnston up. Tovar’s rough night at the plate continued, grounding into a double play to end the inning.

Fortunately, Sugano did more than his fair share. After giving up a single to Horowitz to start the third, Sugano retired the next 12 batters straight and looked smooth doing it. He struck out three of those 12 hitters and tallied up a large handful of easy fly outs and grounders along the way.

Still neck-and-neck heading into the bullpen innings

Both teams got their bullpen up and working around the same time after the starters worked through six innings.

Tomoyuki Sugano pitched six innings, giving up just the one run on the early homer, allowing only four hits, and notching five strikeouts. He relied on a fairly balanced mix of four pitches: splitter (24%), slider (24%), four-seam fastball (19%), and cutter (16%). The slider and splitter were the most dominant, with 40% and 36% whiff rates, respectively. Sugano finished his day after 85 pitches, with Jimmy Herget entering in relief.

Carmen Mlodinzski started the bottom of the seventh with Skenes ending his day after climbing to 104 pitches, making it seven straight games without a victory. He finished with two runs on four hits, along with eight strikeouts and two walks. As has been the case for Skenes across this recent stretch, he minimized run damage despite allowing baserunners and hit his usual amount of K’s.

Herget and Mlodzinski made it through the seventh unscathed, with the former only giving up a walk and the latter giving up a single. Herget got the first out of the eighth before Warren Schaeffer turned to Brennan Bernardino. Bernardino got the next two outs, keeping the bullpen’s clean sheet going.

Another night of nerves in the ninth

It wouldn’t be a Rockies game if you weren’t just excruciatingly uncomfortable at some point. The Rockies bullpen ensured that box got checked tonight.

Brandon Lowe logged a double to start the top of the ninth. Bryan Reynolds followed that with a single to put runners on the corners. Bernardino responded with a clutch strikeout before being pulled for Jaden Hill.

Hill would ride a similar roller-coaster, starting with some downs before finding the ups. He hit the first batter faced, Nick Gonzales, to load the bases. But, in the theme of the night, the Rockies pitchers always responded. Hill went in his bag and put together a great showdown with Tyler Callihan, striking him out after six pitches with a 97 MPH fastball.

The game-deciding out was not without controversy. Mangum grounded to Kyle Karros who came up without making a force out throw. Karros threw up his hands in frustration, claiming that Billy Cook’s foot struck his glove. Both squad’s managers made their case as the umpires called runner’s interference for the out.

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Final Thoughts

This felt like a fun, gritty win emblematic of these 2026 Rockies. They held their own against a dominant pitcher with an unreal starting performance of their own. The bullpen bent but didn’t break. While Tovar, Castro, and Hunter Goodman struggled at the plate, McCarthy and the offense did just enough to get the job done.

Schaeffer applauded a “vintage Tomo” performance from Sugano, noting the mix of pitches he used. “He competed like crazy and it was a professional outing from him.” On that mix of pitches, Sugano noted post-game that “the slider was the pitch” tonight. He felt like “they were waiting on the fastball in general, so I mixed in the off-speed stuff, while not forgetting the fastball too. It was a good mix.”

Schaeffer also celebrated how well the Rockies attacked Skenes. While acknowledging that they left some runs on the table, he highlighted that “we made him work. I thought we took good at bats and our plan was good.”

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