Corbin Carroll homers twice as Rockies lose 9-4 to Diamondbacks

Before the Rockies’ relievers could even settle into their seats beyond the right-field wall, Corbin Carroll jolted them awake.

Carroll’s 438-foot blast on Austin Gomber’s seventh pitch ricocheted off the second-deck facade and landed in the home bullpen, setting the tone for Gomber’s brief start, the bullpen’s long afternoon and Colorado’s 9-4 loss to the Diamondbacks on Wednesday.

Arizona avoided what would have been a devastating sweep in the heat of the National League wild-card race, but the Rockies (59-94) will still fly to Los Angeles with three series wins in their last four. They’re off Thursday before starting a weekend set at Dodger Stadium — their last road series of the season.

That means a necessary breather for a bullpen that was asked to carry Colorado across the finish line for 21 outs in a Coors Field matinee. Through two innings, Carroll had two home runs and the Rockies had zero baserunners. Gomber’s streak of six consecutive starts pitching six or more innings was over. He allowed six runs (five earned), six hits and three homers in the losing decision.

But his supporting cast answered the early call with impressive, if meaningless, fortitude. Jeff Criswell, Victor Vodnik and Anthony Molina strung together six scoreless frames, before Tyler Kinley gave up a pair in garbage time. By that point, the week-day crowd was emitting more decibels for out-of-play pop-ups than for anything happening on the diamond. Five innings had passed since the snoozefest’s only thrilling moment: Rockies left fielder Sam Hilliard unleashing a pinpoint throw — no margin for error, no hops — to nab Pavin Smith at the plate on an Arizona single. Catcher Hunter Goodman didn’t even need to move his glove to apply the tag.