DENVER — Rockies Report, Game 122:

ROCKIES BOTTOM LINE: Hunter Goodman’s splendid season and recent power surge continued when he crushed a first-inning Brandon Pfaadt fastball 449 feet over the center-field wall for his third home run in four days, launching the Rockies in front early en route to a 4-3 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks in front of 26,081 on a warm Friday night at Coors Field.

Gah Gah for Goo Goo pic.twitter.com/WzsczpnSIg

— Colorado Rockies (@Rockies) August 16, 2025

The Rockies never trailed and won without the benefit of a big inning, instead chipping away at their Mountain Time Zone rivals with single runs in the first, third, fourth and fifth innings.

Stellar defense helped Tanner Gordon stifle the Diamondbacks early. Brenton Doyle chased down a Ketel Marte fly ball at the center-field wall in the first inning, squelching any thoughts of an early Diamondbacks outburst the likes of which they had in Thursday night’s homestand opener.

Two innings later, third baseman Kyle Karros’ leaping stab of a Blaze Alexander line drive prevented a one-out double.

Working in right field on Friday night, Mickey Moniak brought home the Rockies’ second run two innings after Goodman’s homer with a sacrifice fly to the left-field warning track. That drove in in Ryan Ritter, who slashed a leadoff double down the left-field line just hours after returning from a rehab stint at AAA Albuquerque.

Ritter returned in place of Adael Amador, who was optioned down after again failing to launch at the plate; he has a .177/.256/.265 line over 41 games and 128 major-league plate appearances this season, which closely matches his career .176/.242/.250 line over the last two campaigns.

Arizona tied it in the fourth inning after Corbin Carroll, Lourdes Gurriel Jr. and Jake McCarthy finally worked a rally against Gordon with three-straight base hits, leading to a pair of runs. But Karros and Brenton Doyle responded with hits of their own in the bottom of the fourth off Pfaadt, and Yanquiel Fernández’s grounder to first base brought home Karros to nudge the Rox back in front.

A fourth run came home one inning later, set up when Tyler Freeman led off the inning with a line-drive triple that skipped to the right-field wall after it landed under the glove of a sliding Jake McCarthy.

With two outs and Freeman still on third, Jordan Beck dropped a pop-up a foot in front of a sliding Alek Thomas, allowing Freeman to score and doubling the Rockies’ lead to 4-2.

In a season where so many of the little things haven’t gone the Rockies’ way, this was a night where a Texas Leaguer dropped in the right spot and a line drive skipped under a foe’s glove. Arizona added a sixth-inning run to draw closer, but Colorado’s bullpen slammed the door shut from there.

Colorado is 33-89.

ROCKIES STARTER’S REPORT

After yielding an avalanche of runs in his previous three starts, Gordon needed a night like this, one where he kept the ball in the yard and his defense backed him up.

Doyle set the tone by running down Marte’s first-inning shot to deep center field, and that helped Gordon avoid some of the troubles that have often befallen him on his first time through the order.

But his second trip through the Diamondbacks lineup did not go as well. After opening by inducing a groundout from Geraldo Perdomo and a harmless fly ball from Marte, he yielded three-consecutive base hits. He only got two batters through a third time before being pulled after 78 pitches with no outs in the fifth inning.

In eight major-league starts this season, Gordon has gone 80 or more pitches just twice; Friday night his work ended at 78. But he didn’t yield a home run for the first time in four starts. Gordon improved to 3-5, earning his first win since July 23 against the St. Louis Cardinals.

BITS AND PIECES

IT WAS DECIDED FOR THE ROCKIES WHEN: Closer Victor Vodnik retired the Diamondbacks in order in the ninth to log his third save of the week and his fifth of the season.

NUMBER TO NOTE: .406 — Karros’ on-base percentage since his August 8 promotion. He went 2-for-3 with a walk Friday.

WHAT’S NEXT: Chase Dollander looks to sustain the momentum from his promising return to the Rockies last Monday night when he takes to the mound Saturday. Ryne Nelson gets the nod for the Diamondbacks in a game scheduled for a 6:10 start time.