Walking off the field after pitching six innings Sunday, Tomoyuki Sugano received a standing ovation from some of the fans sitting behind the Colorado Rockies dugout.

The applause was well deserved as Sugano made his first start at Coors Field one to remember.

Signed to a one-year deal this offseason, the 36-year-old Sugano kept the Philadelphia Phillies off balance all day, helping the Rockies post a 4-1 victory, salvaging one game of the three-game series and moving to 3-6 on the season.

After 12 seasons with Japan’s Yomiuri Giants, during which he won three Central League MVP awards and two Sawamura Awards (Japan’s equivalent of the Cy Young Award), Sugano is in his second MLB season. Last year, he led the Baltimore Orioles in starts (30) and innings (157), a blueprint the Rockies wanted to use this season as part of a rebuilt rotation.

He showed the same characteristics from Baltimore on Sunday, throwing six innings and allowing just four hits and one run. Adolis Garcia launched a solo home run in the second inning, accounting for the only damage.

“He was great. He mixed extremely well,” Colorado manager Warren Schaeffer said. “He threw strikes, all of the things we were talking about what he does when we signed him.

“He didn’t have his split (split-finger fastball), which is one of his best pitches, today. He didn’t have the best feel for it, so he used the slider a lot. He used the heater late. It was just a good, solid mix.”

On Saturday in talks with reporters, Sugano shrugged off any thoughts of what elevation might do to his pitches. Sugano said that years of pitching inside the Tokyo Dome, well known in Japanese baseball for being a hitter’s park, had prepared the veteran for pitching at Coors Field, often known as a nightmare for pitchers.

However, that nightmare never developed for Sugano, who retired 10 consecutive Phillies during one stretch and delivered the longest start of the young season for Colorado.

It was also the first quality start of the season for the Rockies, a team that entered Sunday with the fewest innings (29 1/3) pitched by its starters in 2026 of any MLB team.

“I wasn’t thinking too much about the environment per se. I was trying to keep the ball down, trying to get groundouts and punchouts,” Sugano said through interpreter Yuto Sakurai.

Supporting Sugano on Sunday was an offense that scored more than three runs for only the second time this season. Colorado’s outburst was a welcome sight after the team logged just one extra-base hit in the two previous games against Philadelphia.

Colorado Rockies’ Mickey Moniak gestures as he circles the bases after hitting a solo home run off Philadelphia Phillies starting pitcher Taijuan Walker in the fifth inning of a baseball game Sunday in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

Mickey Moniak kick-started Colorado’s offense in the first inning with a two-out solo blast off Phillies starter Taijuan Walker. Hunter Goodman followed with a single and T.J. Rumfield smacked a line drive that barely cleared the scoreboard in right field, quickly pushing the Rockies to a 3-0 lead.

Moniak added his second homer of the game and season in the fifth inning, taking a 1-2 pitch from Walker off the second-level facing in right-center to expand Colorado’s lead to 4-1. It was his third career multi-homer game.

Sidelined with a right ring finger sprain until Friday, Moniak was described by Schaeffer as “one of our guys we love to have on the field all the time.” His power-filled start to 2026 continues a trend in his second season with the Rockies, where he thrives in Denver. Last season, he posted a .598 slugging percentage in home games, the third-highest mark of any National League hitter.

Rockies 4, Phillies 1

What happened: Colorado earned its first home win of 2026 and third victory overall thanks to a strong start from Tomoyuki Sugano and a ninth inning in which Victor Vodnik worked out of trouble to record his first save of the season. Mickey Moniak’s two home runs powered a Rockies offense that made the most of its seven hits Sunday.

On the mound: Jaden Hill continues to impress for the Rockies, throwing a scoreless inning Sunday and needing just 10 pitches to get through the frame. Brennan Bernardino logged his team-leading sixth appearance of the season, striking out a pair of Phillies as part of a clean eighth inning.

At the plate: Hunter Goodman posted his third two-hit game of the season, smacking a pair of singles. Of Goodman’s nine hits on the season, seven have gone for singles.