Rockies shut out 4-0 as the Rays secure series sweep
· Yahoo Sports
After a dominant series sweep of the Kansas City Royals to begin the home stand, the Colorado Rockies were swept at the hands of one of the best teams in baseball. Despite solid pitching from the home team, the Rockies offense could not solve the Tampa Bay Rays staff, falling 4-0 for their fifth shutout of the season.
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Tomo does his thingThe consistency of Tomoyuki Sugano on the mound has been one of the greater storylines of 2026 for the Rockies. Once again, the veteran right-hander was able to give his club a chance to win the game as he continues to eat innings.
The day started shakier than usual for Sugano as Victor Mesa Jr. led off the game with a triple to right field, followed by a single from Jonathan Aranda to give the Rays a 1-0 lead. The Rays then manufactured another run after Junior Caminero drew a walk and Chandler Simpson had a one-out single to give Tampa Bay a 2-0 lead.
Ever unflappable, Sugano settled in and continued to go to work as he has done all season. He retired the next four batters before giving up a two-out triple to Mesa in the second, but stranded him with a strikeout of Aranda. Caminero led off the third inning with a solo home run, and that would be the last hitter to reach base until Liam Hicks walked to lead off the sixth inning.
View LinkAfter the home run, Sugano retired the next nine batters in a row. His day ended after the walk to Hicks, having thrown five innings and giving up just three runs on five hits. He had three strikeouts and two walks, while tossing 85 pitches and 49 strikes. Sugano also induced seven ground outs and five flyouts.
The Rays have scored a lot of runs in the series, but Sugano was able to hold them at bay and give the offense a chance to compete. Unfortunately, they couldn’t solve Nick Martinez.
Trouble with MartinezThe 2026 All-Star spent four seasons in Japan before returning to MLB in 2022 and has been excellent on the mound this season. Much like Sugano, Martinez thrives on getting opponents to put the ball in play and filling up the strike zone, and that was on full display in his start.
Martinez went 5.2 innings and allowed six hits, four of which were by a hitter to lead off an inning. The best threat the Rockies started to string together was in the fourth when Mickey Moniak and Kyle Karros hit back-to-back singles to start the inning. Unfortunately, Martinez got a fly out and got Jordan Beck to bounce into a double play.
View LinkThe Rockies had seven groundouts against him along with four flyouts. He didn’t get his first strikeout until the fifth inning, but then finished the day with four total strikeouts without allowing a walk.
Struggling offenseAfter the first strikeout in the fifth inning, it seemed to open up the floodgates for the Rockies. Tyler Wells entered the game in the sixth inning and struck out four of the five batters he faced. Garrett Cleavinger then struck out a batter in the eighth before Cam Booser closed out the ninth on six pitches, including a strikeout to end the game.
The Rockies out-hit the Rays 6-5 but had just one extra-base hit, a double from Beck. Karros was the only Rockie with multiple hits, collecting a pair of singles against Martinez. They ended up striking out 10 times as a team from the fifth inning onward, and had just two walks. Additionally, they went 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position.
Solid day for the penWhen Sugano departed, the Rockies had a solid trio of outings from the bullpen. Parker Mushinski navigated the sixth inning with ease before giving way to Juan Mejia in the seventh.
Despite not giving up a hit, Mejia was charged with a run as the Rays played small ball. Mejia issued a leadoff walk to Taylor Walls, who then stole second base. Mejia had a play to throw him out at second, but spiked the ball on the throw. Nick Fortes and Mesa then dropped back-to-back sacrifice bunts to drive in the run to give the Rays a 4-0 lead. Mejia escaped without further damage to hand the ball to Zach Agnos for the final two innings.
Agnos continued his string of good performances over the last month, as he fired two perfect innings with two strikeouts.
Up nextThe Rockies head out on a nine-game road trip, kicking off a three-game set on Friday in St. Louis. The Rockies will send out Ryan Feltner (4-5, 5.75 ERA) while the Cardinals counter with Colorado native Kyle Leahy (7-4, 3.44 ERA).
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