Corbin Carroll homered twice, Randal Grichuk also went deep, and the Arizona Diamondbacks beat the Colorado Rockies 9-4 in Denver on Wednesday.
Left-hander Eduardo Rodriguez (3-3) had a season-high 11 strikeouts with five hits, two runs and one walk allowed in 6 1/3 innings for Arizona. The Diamondbacks (84-68) avoided a three-game sweep and moved a half-game ahead of the New York Mets for the second National League wild-card berth. New York plays later Wednesday.
Grichuk, Jake McCarthy and Gabriel Moreno finished with two hits each for Arizona.
Aaron Schunk and Sam Hilliard had two hits apiece for Colorado. The Rockies (53-94) have captured six of their last nine home series and need to win four of their last nine games to avoid a second straight 100-loss season.
The D-backs jumped on Colorado starter Austin Gomber in the first inning when Carroll hit a one-out homer. Grichuk followed with a double and scored on Christian Walker’s single to left.
Pavin Smith walked and Moreno drove in Walker with another single for a 3-0 advantage.
Arizona added on in the second when Geraldo Perdomo reached on an error and Carroll hit his second homer of the day and 21st of the season. Grichuk hit the next pitch out to dead center to make it 6-0. It was his 11th of the season.
That was all for Gomber (5-11), who allowed six runs (five earned) on six hits and one walk with one strikeout in two innings of work. It was Gomber’s shortest outing since lasting just three innings against New York on Aug. 8.
The Rockies got a couple back in the third inning. Hilliard and Schunk singled around Jordan Beck’s strikeout and Brenton Doyle reached on an infield single to load the bases. Ezequiel Tovar drove home two with a single to left.
Rodriguez got the next two batters to limit the damage.
The D-backs put it away in the ninth. Walker hit a sacrifice fly to drive in Carroll, Joc Pederson scored on Smith’s double and Suarez’s RBI single capped the three-run inning.
Colorado answered in the bottom of the inning on Hilliard’s two-run single.
