Rockies stun Diamondbacks with ninth-inning rally at Coors Field

DENVER — Monday night’s headliner was right-hander Antonio Senzatela on his comeback tour. But it was the Rockies’ ninth-inning rally that brought down the house.

The Rockies beat the Diamondbacks, 3-2, at Coors Field on a throwing error by shortstop Geraldo Perdomo.

The rally began with a leadoff single by Brenton Doyle off reliever Ryan Thompson. Doyle stole second — his second swipe of the night — to get into scoring position. Arizona intentionally walked Ryan McMahon, hoping to set up a double play.

They almost got it when Brendan Rodgers grounded out to second baseman Ketel Marte, who fed Perdomo at the bag, but Perdomo threw wildly past first baseman Christian Walker and Doyle scampered around to score the winning run.

It was a costly loss for the D-Backs, who are battling for a wild-card playoff spot. They have owned the Rockies of late, going 8-2 in their previous 10 games, and 18-5 in their last 23 since 2023.

Through the first eight innings, the Rockies had only three hits, but two were solo homers.

Ezequiel Tovar led off the fourth with an opposite-field shot to right-center, his 24th homer of the season, tying Michael Toglia for the team lead. Tovar lifted starter Merrill Kelly’s 1-0 slider 416 feet.

Rookie catcher Hunter Goodman, who’s impressed manager Bud Black as he gets increased playing time in the final month of the season, launched a two-out solo homer to left in the seventh off right-hander Kevin Ginkel.

For the first time in 495 days, Senzatela found himself starting a big league game. The veteran right-hander, returning from Tommy John surgery he underwent in July 2023, started out shaky but he found some rhythm and ended up with a decent comeback outing. He pitched three-plus innings, allowing two runs on four hits, with two walks and two strikeouts.

Arizona speedster Corbin Carroll led off the game with a triple, ripping Senzatela’s 0-1 fastball to left-center. Two pitches later, Marte blasted Senzatela’s 1-0 fastball 460 feet to center for a two-run homer.

Senzatela blanked the D-backs for the rest of his start, but he ran into trouble in the fourth. Christian Walker led off with a single and Pavin Smith drew a walk. At 67 pitches (42 strikes), Senzatela’s night was done. Manager Bud Black said pregame that the right-hander would be limited to about 70 pitches.

Anthony Molina quickly cleaned up Senzatela’s fourth-inning mess, inducing Jake McCarthy into a double-play grounder and getting Eugenio Suarez to fly out to center.

Kelly pitched a terrific six innings for the D-backs, giving up just two hits, including the solo shot by Tovar. He walked two and fanned five.