Diamondbacks Shut Out Rockies Behind Corbin Burnes' Dominant Start

The Arizona Diamondbacks shut out the Colorado Rockies at Chase Field 8-0, marking the first time since April 30-May 1 against the New York Mets that they won back-to-back games. Corbin Burnes was excellent again, striking out a season-high 10 hitters over six scoreless innings.

Burnes was at the top of his game for the second straight start. After missing a turn through the rotation due to shoulder inflammation, the right-hander has pitched 13 scoreless innings with 15 strikeouts and only seven hits allowed. He has won three straight starts and looks more like the ace they thought they were getting when they signed him to a franchise-record $210 million contract in the offseason.

"Corbin was fantastic," said Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo. "It was six innings, 90-plus pitches, 10 strikeouts. Just in command of every pitch he wanted to throw, he was landing it. He let us get our feet under us, we took a lead, and he became a little bit more stubborn as the game went on."

He led with his signature cutter, which averaged a season-high 95.0 MPH. Of the 51 he threw on the night, 24 of them resulted in a called or swinging strike (47.1%). It was the sixth-highest called strike plus whiff rate with the cutter in his career and the highest since April 11, 2023. Coincidentally, that game came against the Diamondbacks at Chase Field when he was with the Brewers.

Facing a Rockies lineup that's been struggling this year, ranking dead last in OPS+ (71) and second-to-last in runs scored per game (3.21), Burnes had little issue navigating through the lineup. He got 19 swings and misses, including 10 on his cutter.

"We were commanding everything, mixing speeds really well," Burnes told Arizona Diamondbacks on SI's Jack Sommers. "Gabi [Moreno] did a great job back there calling pitchers and keeping them off balance."

Burnes had a slight hiccup in the middle innings. In the fourth, Colorado had their best opportunity of the night. They loaded the bases on a single and a pair of walks, but Burnes dialed up an impressive three-pitch sequence to strike out Mickey Moniak and leave them loaded.

The Diamondbacks wasted little time getting Burnes a lead. They broke through against left-hander Carson Palmquist, who was making his major league debut, in the second inning. Tim Tawa ripped a double into the left field corner to get Arizona on the board. Geraldo Perdomo tacked on an RBI groundout.

From that point forward, the Diamondbacks' lineup continued to tack on against the rookie left-hander. They built innings and executed situationally despite starting 1-for-6 with runners in scoring position. Arizona scored a runner at third with less than two outs in their first three opportunities, getting the job done on a ground ball and two sacrifice flies.

The Diamondbacks had production from all over the lineup, banging out 12 hits. Gabriel Moreno had the biggest night at the plate, going 3-for-3 with two doubles, a walk, an RBI, and scored three runs. Eugenio Suárez and Perdomo each had three RBI.

"Everyone was chipping in with good approaches, you're looking at 15 baserunners, hits and walks," said Lovullo. "Any time you're getting north of that 13, 14 baserunner mark, you're going to put up some big numbers. I was really proud of the way we chipped away, we advanced runners, we scored runners, situationally hit. We did a lot right today and I want that to continue."

The Diamondbacks look to continue to take care of business against a struggling opponent, as they'll send Zac Gallen to the mound for the second game of the series. The Rockies will counter with right-hander German Marquez. First pitch at Chase Field is set for 5:10 p.m. MST.