Diamondbacks 2, Rockies 3: The Bullpen Needed Work

PHOENIX, ARIZONA - MAY 08: Relief pitcher Juan Morillo #62 of the Arizona Diamondbacks pitches against the New York Mets during the seventh inning at Chase Field on May 08, 2026 in Phoenix, Arizona. The Mets defeated the Diamondbacks 3-1 in 10 innings. (Photo by Chris Coduto/Getty Images) | Getty Images Game Summary The Diamondbacks starting rotation has been on another level over the last couple weeks, and that trend continued tonight with Michael Soroka earning another Quality Start, their league-leading 13th this month.

With only 78 pitches thrown after six innings and only a single run allowed, it looked like it was a no-brainer for Soroka to come back out for the 7th. Instead, Soroka was pulled and the Diamondbacks bullpen allowed 2 runs over the next 3 frames to hand the Rockies a rare win at Chase Field. Soroka wasn’t the best we had seen him, but he was extremely efficient and mostly effective.

Not much swing-and-miss, but a lot of light contact and good defense backing him up. Right from the start of the bullpen usage, however, things were off. Taylor Clarke was first up and got some terrific help from his defense to record 2 outs, but he also allowed a couple baserunners which led to him being pulled in favor of Brandyn Garcia who recorded the final out of the 7th and hit the showers.

Then it was Juan Morillo’s turn one night after getting hit with a blown save against these Rockies and it started off just as poorly as last night ended, allowing a quick run to tie the game before recording an out, but Morillo regained his composure and got 2 outs before turning the ball over to Ryan Thompson who mirrored Garcia’s 7th inning performance with a groundout to end the 8th. Thompson came back out for the 9th and looked considerably less sharp than before and ended up giving up the go-ahead run before working his way out of a mess of his own making. Still, after all of that, Diamondbacks pitchers combined to only allow 3 runs.