Rockies clinch fourth-straight 100-loss season; Arenado helps push them over the cliff

DENVER — Rockies Report, Game 157:

ROCKIES BOTTOM LINE: Somehow, it was appropriate that loss No. 100 transpired like this.

The defeat that ensured the Rockies became the first major-league team to suffer four consecutive 100-defeat seasons since the expansion New York Mets in their initial four campaigns from 1962-65 happened at the expense of the pitcher who has more starts — by 50 — than anyone else in club history, and came with the man who is likely to be the club’s next selection to the Baseball Hall of Fame delivering some of the decisive blows.

That man, of course, is Nolan Arenado, the 10-time Gold Glove- and five-time Silver Slugger-winning third baseman who now handles the hot corner for the Diamondbacks.

In a year that has been Arenado’s best since 2022, when he was in the MVP conversation, the former Rockies stalwart — traded to St. Louis in 2021 in controversial and hand-wringing fashion — provided the Rox the final nudge into the 100-loss abyss, with a single, a double and a home run to help doom Colorado to a 7-2 defeat in front of 19,324 witnesses at Coors Field on Tuesday night.

Of Coors. pic.twitter.com/bSGFuf8MUI

— Arizona Diamondbacks (@Dbacks) September 23, 2026

In many ways, the trade of Arenado was the flashpoint of the Rockies’ slide into the nether regions of major-league baseball. When he was dealt, the Rox were already two seasons into what is now eight-consecutive sub-.500 campaigns and counting, but the team was still close enough to its back-to-back postseason campaigns to where there was still realistic hope of a quick return to relevance.

Instead, in the weeks preceding spring training in 2021, the Rockies dealt Arenado in a trade that attracted attention for how much cash the club sent to St. Louis in order to make the deal happen. There was eventual salary relief, but the optics were damning.

Arenado was part of an early onslaught against Kyle Freeland, who made what could be his final Coors Field start. The Diamondbacks jumped on Freeland quickly with three singles and a double before he could record the second out of the inning. Gabriel Moreno, Gerardo Berdomo and Corbin Carroll drove in runs to put Arizona in front to stay; Tim Tawa added an RBI single in the third inning.

Mickey Moniak got the Rox on the board in the third inning with a solo homer that reached the second deck of the right-field stands; Connor Norby had the Rockies’ other RBI in the inning, bringing home Troy Johnston, who had reached on a sacrifice fly. But Johnston’s single would be Colorado’s final hit until Cole Carrigg delivered a two-out ninth-inning single, by which point Arizona had added runs in the fourth, fifth and seventh innings — including Arenado’s homer.

Colorado had no answers for Arizona starter Michael Soroka, who held them to a walk, two hits and one hit batter over seven innings.

The Rockies dropped to 57-100. After having no 100-loss seasons in their first 30 campaigns, they’re now four-for-four in that ignominious stat since passing the big 3-0.

ROCKIES STARTER’S REPORT

Had Freeland been dealt at the trade deadline — as many expected, and based on Freeland’s postgame comments that day, that throng of people included the pitcher himself — he would have had the perfect Coors Field sendoff, delivering the first complete game of his career in front of an appreciative Sunday afternoon crowd that bathed him in a standing ovation when his work against the Kansas City Royals was complete.

Alas, he had three more starts — the last two of which came after a stint on the injured list.

“Not how you want to draw it up. Going into this final start, I wanted to make it everything I wanted to be and enjoy the moment — which I did. Obviously, I wanted to come out with a win,” Freeland said.

“I love this city so much, I love this team, I love this organization. I don’t know what the future holds for me, but tonight, I made sure I had fun.”

BITS AND PIECES

IT WAS DECIDED FOR THE ROCKIES WHEN: Arenado launched a leadoff homer in the seventh inning off Zach Agnos to push the Diamondbacks’ lead to five runs.

NUMBER TO NOTE: 256 — Number of career starts for Freeland, all in a Rockies uniform. That’s 50 more than the next-closest pitcher, Aaron Cook. Freeland’s 1,391 2/3 innings are also a club record.

WHAT’S NEXT: The second game of the series against Arizona. Mason Adams will try and record his first win as a Rockies starter; Merrill Kelly gets the ball for the Snakes. First pitch is scheduled for 6:40 p.m. MDT on Wednesday night.

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