DENVER (AP) — The usually sure-footed Arizona Diamondbacks made a couple of uncharacteristic base-running mistakes.
It didn't matter. They found an easy way to around them — the long ball.
Jarrod Dyson homered on the second pitch of the game during a five-run first inning and was later involved in a quirky double play as the Diamondbacks cruised to a 9-3 win over the Colorado Rockies on Tuesday night.
It was Dyson's third career leadoff homer — all this season. Christian Walker, Nick Ahmed and David Peralta added two-run homers off Jeff Hoffman (1-4, who was making an emergency start following Jon Gray's scratch due to left ankle soreness. Hoffman surrendered seven runs over two innings.
"Dyson started the party," said Ahmed, who's homered in three straight games. "A leadoff homer is always great and hitting can be contagious after that."
The strangest play of the night was on an inning-ending double play in the eighth that involved tagging out two Diamondbacks runners caught in rundowns. With runners on first and third, Dyson grounded a ball to first baseman Daniel Murphy, who trapped Ahmed between third and home. Ahmed was eventually tagged out and Dyson, who had broken toward second, eventually was tagged out going back to first.
The play was officially scored almost like a lottery ticket: 3-4-3-1-8.
"Good thing it didn't cost us the game," Dyson said. "We just learn from it and take the negative and fix it."
Arizona also had Josh Rojas thrown out trying to steal.
"Outs are precious. I don't like to give them up in any way," Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo said. "We gave them an inning's worth of outs on the base paths. That's not what we do here. We'll tighten that up."
Ahmed finished a double shy of the cycle in sending the Diamondbacks to their fifth straight win over Colorado. They're averaging 5.67 runs a game against Colorado since 2011, which marks the highest average of any team against a divisional opponent over that span.
This was a rough outing for the Rockies on "Bark at the Park" night at Coors Field, where fans brought their dogs and a pregame pup parade was held around the warning track.
Hoffman never got on track, surrendering three homers in the first. It's the second straight game the Diamondbacks have posted a three-homer inning, which is a franchise first.
"It was a rough night for Jeff," Rockies manager Bud Black explained.
Wearing teal-colored cleats, Arizona starter Zac Gallen threw four solid innings before his pitch count reached 90 and he was taken out. The right-hander allowed two runs in his second start for Arizona since being acquired from Miami on July 31.
Arizona's bullpen turned in another solid outing, with Kevin Ginkel (1-0) earning the win by throwing two scoreless frames.
Rockies catcher Dom Nuñez hit a solo shot in the eighth to become the seventh player in franchise history to homer during his major league debut. Nunez had his contracted selected from Triple-A Albuquerque before the game.
"If you would have told me this was going to happen I would have said you're crazy," said Nunez, who had the home run ball retrieved after it landed in the Arizona bullpen. "But I'm happy it did."
AROUND THE MAJORS TUESDAY
The Minnesota Twins are back atop the AL Central by a half-game over Cleveland following a comeback victory over the Milwaukee Brewers. Marwin Gonzalez smacked a three-run home run off of Josh Hader in the eighth inning to propel the Twins past the Brewers, 7-5. Gonzalez emerged as the hero after Yasmani Grandal’s three-run blast put Milwaukee up 5-4 in the seventh. Brewers outfielder Christian Yelich had an RBI double in the seventh after staying out of the starting lineup for five straight games because of a back injury. But Hader recorded his fifth blown save to prevent Milwaukee from inching closer to the NL Central lead.
Jackie Bradley Jr. did the Twins a favor by belting a home run with one out in the 10th inning to send the Red Sox past the Indians, 7-6. Rafael Devers went 6-for-6 with four doubles and three RBIs, but he also made a costly error at third base while Boston was blowing a 6-1 lead. Red Sox lefty Chris Sale became the fastest pitcher in major league history to record 2,000 career strikeouts, passing the mark set by former Boston ace Pedro Martinez.
The Cardinals now find themselves within a one game of the NL Central-leading Cubs and 2 ½ games ahead of the third-place Brewers after Jack Flaherty tossed three-hit ball over seven innings to carry St. Louis past Kansas City, 2-0. Flaherty has allowed 20 hits with 50 strikeouts and 0.70 ERA since the All-Star break to help the Redbirds challenge for the division crown. Paul Goldschmidt lifted a sacrifice fly and Tommy Edman added an RBI single for the game’s only runs.
The Cubs absorbed a 4-2 loss to the Phillies as J.T. Realmuto homered and doubled home the tiebreaking run in the seventh inning. Jason Vargas allowed two runs and five hits over six frames before the Philadelphia bullpen shut the door. Cubs starter Jose Quintana had a career-best 14 strikeouts while allowing one earned run and five hits over six innings.
Ronald Acuña Jr. homered, scored his 100th run of the season and threw out a runner at the plate from left field as the Braves downed the Mets, 5-3 to maintain their six-game lead over Washington atop the NL East. Max Fried is 14-4 following his fifth consecutive win, limiting the Mets to one run and five hits over six innings. New York has dropped two straight since a 15-1 stretch.
Will Smith belted two of the Dodgers’ six home runs in a 15-1 mauling of the Marlins. Corey Seager and Smith crushed back-to-back blasts in the fourth, three innings before Justin Turner and Cody Bellinger hit consecutive homers. They were Bellinger’s 39th home run of the season and Turner’s 20th for the runaway leaders of the NL West.
Brian Dozier and Juan Soto homered in their returns to the lineup as the Nationals downed the Reds, 3-1. Joe Ross extended his scoreless streak to 17 1/3 innings before José Iglesias hit an RBI single to end Ross’ day. Ross allowed one run and five hits in his 6 2/3 innings of Washington’s third straight win.
Josh Bell slammed his 31st home run and drove in three as the Pirates topped the Angels, 10-7. Bryan Reynolds was 3-for-4 with a solo blast and three runs scored as part of Pittsburgh’s 17-hit attack. Adam Frazier and Starling Marte also had three hits apiece for the Bucs.
Domingo Germán became the season’s first 16-game winner by working the first seven innings of the Yankees’ 8-3 rout of the Orioles. Germán allowed two runs and five hits with seven strikeouts in winning his seventh consecutive decision. DJ LeMahieu homered on the first pitch he saw and Aaron Judge added a two-run double in New York’s 16th straight win over Baltimore.
Ji-Man Choi’s two-run shot ignited the Rays’ three-run seventh in a 7-5 comeback win over the Padres. Austin Meadows added a solo homer and two RBIs for Tampa Bay, which trailed 4-1 after one inning. The Rays moved three games ahead of Oakland for the second AL wild card by rallying after Luis Urias laced a three-run double.
George Springer and José Altuve hit solo homers to support Zack Greinke as the Astros took the opener of their doubleheader with the White Sox, 6-2. Springer connected on the first pitch of the day and also threw out a runner at the plate from right field. Greinke allowed two runs on seven hits over six innings to win for the second time in two starts since Houston acquired him from Arizona in a deal at the trade deadline.
The White Sox gained a split of the twinbill as Ivan Nova tossed a four-hitter in a 4-1 victory. Nova gave up just an unearned run and improved to 4-0 with a 0.49 ERA in his last five starts. Houston hurler Gerrit Cole was slated to start the nightcap, but the right-hander was scratched because of right hamstring discomfort before Houston lost for just the second time in 11 games.
The Giants earned a 3-2 win over the Athletics behind Madison Bumgarner, who struck out nine and gave up only two hits over seven innings. Bumgarner retired 13 straight hitters before Steven Piscotty homered in the fifth. Evan Longoria and Kevin Pillar each delivered RBI hits during a string of three straight two-out doubles by the Giants in the sixth against Brian Anderson.
Kyle Seager homered three times and Tom Murphy added two as the Mariners outscored the Tigers, 11-6. Seager and Murphy hit back-to-back homers in the fourth and sixth innings before Seager added his third in the ninth. Seattle won for the second time in 10 games and improved to 5-0 against Detroit this season.
Five Blue Jays pitchers combined on a five-hitter in a 3-0 shutout of the Rangers. Teoscar Hernandez and Billy McKinney hit back-to-back home runs in Toronto’s fifth victory in seven games. Blue Jays outfielder Randal Grichuk celebrated his 28th birthday with a solo home run against Texas, which has dropped six of seven.
WEDNESDAY'S GAMES (MT)
Houston at Chicago White Sox, 2:40 p.m., 1st game
Baltimore at N.Y. Yankees, 5:05 p.m.
Chicago Cubs at Philadelphia, 5:05 p.m.
Cincinnati at Washington, 5:05 p.m.
Texas at Toronto, 5:07 p.m.
Boston at Cleveland, 5:10 p.m.
L.A. Dodgers at Miami, 5:10 p.m.
Seattle at Detroit, 5:10 p.m.
N.Y. Mets at Atlanta, 5:20 p.m.
Houston at Chicago White Sox, 6:10 p.m., 2nd game
Minnesota at Milwaukee, 6:10 p.m.
St. Louis at Kansas City, 6:15 p.m.
Arizona at Colorado, 6:40 p.m.
Oakland at San Francisco, 7:45 p.m.
Pittsburgh at L.A. Angels, 8:07 p.m.
Tampa Bay at San Diego, 8:10 p.m.