On Saturday, pitcher Tomoyuki Sugano 菅野 智之 made his ninth start with the Colorado Rockies and his fifth start at Coors Field. Sugano had a good day for the Rockies, pitching five innings and allowing two runs (both earned) on seven hits, and setting them up for a 4-2 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks.
However, the day also marked a significant marker for the former Yomuiri Giant as he also tallied his 150th career win, despite experiencing some flu-like symptoms prior to his start.
Sugano was modest about the accomplishment, saying through interpreter Yuto Sakurai, “I’m obviously happy about it, but it’s just another win, so I want to look forward to the 151st win.”
Rockies manager Warren Schaeffer wasn’t surprised.
“He’s just the ultimate professional on a daily basis,” Schaeffer said, “whether it’s pitching or not, around everybody else. You can just tell he’s been doing it at a high level for a long time. We celebrated the 150th in there today, but [I’m] very, very happy for him. It’s a great milestone, well deserved.”
Antonio Senzatela recognized the importance of his teammate’s accomplishment.
“It was really big,” Senzatela said. “He’s one of the best pitchers out there in Japan, and he’s performing really well here in Coors. He’s a nice human being, a nice person. I love him, and I’m so happy for him.”
An All-Star in Japan, Sugano won the Central League Most Valuable Player Award three times and the Eiji Sawamura Award twice.
“The No. 1 honorable thing I could say about [my career highlights] is playing for the Yomiuri Giants,” Sugano said. “I have a lot of history there, for 12 years, and the teammates and the coaching staff that I met throughout the process is probably my No. 1 thing.”
Despite his stature in Japan, Sugano acknowledged the different kind of pressures he’s experienced pitching in Japan and the United States.
“It’s a different type of pressure that I felt back in Japan versus here,” he said. “In Japan, I was expected, obviously, to win and pitch well every game. But over here, I’m more so feeling like a rookie. I was a rookie last year, and in terms of that, like not as much pressure over here,”
He decided to spend part of his baseball career in the United States.
“I was obviously in my latter part of the career in Japan,” Sugano said, “and I just didn’t want to have any regrets looking back in my career. So it was one of the things I wanted to accomplish, so I think that would be one of the biggest reasons.”
A rookie in the US — at elevation
Sugano is also learning to adjust to pitching at elevation.
“The first thing I noticed is how my off-speed pitches move here versus on the road,” Sugano said, “but I think I’m making good adjustments to that too.”
Currently, Sugano has a 4.07 ERA in 42.0 IP. His ERA at Coors Field is 4.71 while his road ERA comes in at 3.43, which suggests that Sugano is experiencing some of the same home-road adjustments as other Rockies pitchers. Worth noting, however, is that his home HR/9 is 1.29 while his road HR/9 is 2.57. So while he’s pitching better on the road, he’s giving up more home runs there than he does at Coors Field.
For Sugano, it’s about making the most of his sizable arsenal.
“I guess my strength is I get to pitch with different pitches,” Sugano said. “I haven’t looked through the arsenal to pitch around hitters, and that’s obviously my strength.”
He also pointed out that he’s enjoying his time in Denver, a big switch from Baltimore where Sugano spent the 2025 season.
“It’s an amazing city, easy to have a good life here,” Sugano said. “I like it. It’s, it’s just easy to live on a day-to-day basis.
Weekend Discussion Topics
Tomoyuki Sugano’s 150th career win across Japan and the United states is one of many career milestones reached with (or against) the Rockies in their relatively short team history. What are some others you can think of, or believe might be reached in the near future?
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