Long ball is undoing of Sugano, Rockies in series finale

Rockies Report, Game 41:

ROCKIES BOTTOM LINE: Tomoyuki Sugano’s old bugaboo — the long ball — came back to bite him early Sunday, as three solo homers — including two by Kyle Schwarber — helped the Phillies sprint to a 5-0 lead after two innings en route to a 6-0 win over Colorado in Sunday’s series finale at Citizens Bank Park.

Meanwhile, Phillies starter Cristopher Sánchez squelched the Rox, limiting them to six hits over seven innings of work. He never allowed a Rockie to advance beyond second base.

Colorado’s best threat came in the third inning, when Ezequiel Tovar and Jake McCarthy led off with singles, but Sánchez rallied to retire Jordan Beck, Tyler Freeman and Hunter Goodman, striking out the latter two players.

On the bright side, Tovar had a pair of hits after going 4-for-his-previous-37 dating back to April 26.

The Rockies fell to 16-25. They dropped the season series to the Phillies, 4-2.

ROCKIES STARTER’S REPORT

Sugano has mostly avoided the home-run troubles that defined his first major-league season last year with the Baltimore Orioles — especially in the final two months of last season. But against a Phillies lineup that has found its power touch since Don Mattingly took over managerial duties, Sunday’s game represented a bad flashback to 2025.

The Phillies now have 19 home runs in 13 games since Mattingly replaced Rob Thomson, increasing their average per game from 1.07 to 1.46 after the change. Not coincidentally, the Fightins’ are 10-3 after starting 9-19, as they’ve clawed back into second place in the National League East and have started to look more like the team expected to win that division and contend for a trip to the World Series.

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For Sugano and the Rockies, that was bad news — and bad timing. He went five innings before Seth Halvorsen stepped in to finish out the afternoon.

Sugano’s HR/9 rate this season is now 1.9 — the same as it was last year.

BITS AND PIECES

IT WAS DECIDED FOR THE ROCKIES WHEN: McCarthy flied out with two on and two out in the seventh inning and the Rockies trailing by what would be the final margin.

NUMBER TO NOTE: .100 — Batting average for the top five spots in the order Sunday, which went 2-for-20.

WHAT’S NEXT: An off-day before a tall task: facing the Pittsburgh Pirates with two-time All-Star ace Paul Skenes on the mound. Michael Lorenzen will try to get his season back on track in his 10th start of the season. First pitch from PNC Park on Tuesday night will be at 4:40 p.m. MDT.

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