Eugenio Suárez hits his 300th HR as D-backs beat Rockies 14-8 on June 21, but the win is soured by season-ending injuries to pitchers Henry and Puk.
StatPro MLB Beat Reporter
What a difference a day makes. Saturday in Denver was a perfect encapsulation of the 2025 Diamondbacks season: moments of pure, unadulterated joy and offensive brilliance, immediately followed by a gut punch of devastating news. While Eugenio Suárez was launching his 300th career home run into the thin mountain air, the organization was announcing that two more key arms, Tommy Henry and A.J. Puk, are lost for the season to Tommy John surgery.
Eugenio Suárez is now the third Venezuelan-born player to reach 300 career home runs, joining baseball legends Miguel Cabrera and Andrés Galarraga.
The story of the game was undoubtedly Eugenio Suárez. Needing one homer to reach a historic milestone, 'Geno' decided to hit two for good measure. He launched his 300th career homer in the fifth inning and followed it up with another blast in the sixth, cementing his place in Venezuelan baseball history. Suárez didn't stop there, finishing the night with four hits and padding his MLB-leading RBI total to 65. The offensive onslaught was a team affair, with Ketel Marte driving in five runs on a homer and a double, and Ildemaro Vargas falling just a triple shy of the cycle in a 21-hit team performance that saw the D-backs win 14-8.
While the offense was celebrating, the pitching staff was dealt a catastrophic blow. Manager Torey Lovullo confirmed that both lefty starter Tommy Henry and reliever A.J. Puk will undergo Tommy John surgery, ending their seasons. This news is especially brutal coming just a week after closer Justin Martinez received the same diagnosis. The Diamondbacks' pitching depth, once a potential strength, has been completely decimated, leaving massive holes in both the rotation and the bullpen that the front office must now scramble to address.
Even the win itself highlighted the team's pitching concerns. Zac Gallen (5-8) battled his way to a victory, but not before surrendering a six-run fourth inning that briefly gave the Rockies a 7-6 lead. It was a classic Coors Field slugfest, and while the offense proved it could overcome a rough pitching night, it’s a dangerous formula to rely on. The D-backs' ability to answer back immediately showed impressive fight, but it's clear the lineup will be under immense pressure to produce big numbers every night with the current state of the pitching staff.
As the dust settles from the offensive explosion in Colorado, the path forward for the Diamondbacks looks incredibly challenging. The lineup has proven it can hang crooked numbers on the scoreboard with the best of them, but you can't outslug your problems forever. With Henry, Puk, and Martinez all shelved, the focus now shifts to GM Mike Hazen and the remaining arms on the roster. Can they find reinforcements externally? Can the next man up survive the gauntlet? Saturday was a historic night for Eugenio Suárez, but it may also be remembered as the day the 2025 season's biggest challenge truly began.
