Diamondbacks’ Eduardo Rodriguez strikes out 11 in win over Rockies

Arizona Diamondbacks starter Eduardo Rodriguez struck out a season-high 11 batters in 6.1 quality innings during Wednesday’s 9-4 victory against the Colorado Rockies.

The southpaw allowed two earned runs on five hits and one walk to preserve an early lead. Arizona jumped ahead 6-0 by the second inning, as Corbin Carroll homered twice to drive in three runs. Randal Grichuk doubled and went yard, scoring twice.

Wednesday marked Rodriguez’s deepest start of his eight with the Diamondbacks (84-68) thus far and his first quality start. His 11 strikeouts were his most in a single game since the 2019 season with the Boston Red Sox.

Eduardo Rodríguez’s 10th and 11th Ks pic.twitter.com/NFtzGRlbr0

— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) September 18, 2024

Rodriguez dotted up the strike zone, finding particular success with the four-seamer, which drew 11 of his season-high 16 swings-and-misses.

His sole hiccup came in the third inning with three straight singles, none of which were hit particularly hard but flared into the outfield. Rodriguez faced 25 batters and allowed two hard-hit balls in play (95 mph off the bat or harder). By the time Rodriguez exited, Arizona had nine hard-hit balls, eight off Rockies starter Austin Gomber in two innings.

It was a welcome follow-up to his last outing, as the veteran threw five innings with two earned runs and seven strikeouts on Friday against the Milwaukee Brewers. He allowed 12 earned runs in 13.1 innings over his previous three starts. With Ryne Nelson on the injured list and Brandon Pfaadt scuffling of late, Rodriguez hitting his stride down the stretch provides a bit of stability to a rotation in need of it. He is lined up for two more starts with 10 games left on the schedule.

Eduardo Rodríguez’s 2Ks in the 4th.

8Ks thru 4. pic.twitter.com/7210l19mmD

— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) September 18, 2024

Arizona relievers Ryan Thompson and Justin Martinez put up zeroes before Colorado charged Joe Mantiply with two runs.

The offense had chances to tack on but came up short until the ninth inning. Carroll scored his third run of the game by walking, advancing to third on a Joc Pederson single and scoring on a sacrifice fly by Christian Walker. Carroll has 115 runs scored this season, second-most in the NL.

The D-backs tacked on two more runs on RBI knocks from Pavin Smith and Eugenio Suarez.

Arizona avoided a three-game sweep against the now 94-loss Rockies and head to Milwaukee for four games against the Brewers, who took two of three games at Chase Field last weekend.

Milwaukee clinched the National League Central title on Wednesday after the Chicago Cubs lost against Oakland.

The Diamondbacks matched their 2023 season win total.

Diamondbacks’ next game

Thursday’s series opener bring up a pitching matchup of Pfaadt against Brewers righty Tobias Myers.

First pitch is at 4:15 p.m. on 98.7 and the Arizona Sports app.  

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