Colorado Rockies at Milwaukee Brewers

Rockies right-handed pitcher Tomoyuki Sugano’s Friday was like so many of his other starts this season -- a quietly effective 5 1/3 innings. But when reliever Victor Vodnik replaced him and extricated the Rockies from a one-out, two-on jam in the sixth for one of the most important sequences in a 5-2 victory over the Brewers at American Family Field, Sugano showed uncharacteristic emotion -- as much as his quiet manner would allow. Sugano didn’t wait until Vodnik reached the dugout to congratulate him. “I’d never seen anybody come that far onto the field to say thank you or congratulate me on the outing,” Vodnik said. By holding the Brewers to two runs and six hits while striking out five, Sugano earned his sixth consecutive win and became the first Rockies pitcher to reach 10 victories in a season since Germán Márquez won 12 in his 2021 All-Star season. With the Trade Deadline approaching at 4 p.m. MT on Aug. 3, Friday's start might have been one of the last in black and purple for Sugano, who is pitching under a one-year, $5.1 million contract \-\- certainly affordable for a contending club.