Before the Rockies’ substitutes could even take their places behind the right outfield boundary, Corbin Carroll startled them awake.

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

Arizona avoided a devastating win in the heat of the National League wild-card race, but the Rockies (59-94) still head to Los Angeles with three wins in their last four series. They have Thursday off before beginning their final road series of the season at Dodger Stadium this weekend.

That means a needed breather for a bullpen that was supposed to get Colorado over the line with 21 outs in a matinee at Coors Field. In two innings, Carroll had two home runs and the Rockies had zero baserunners. Gomber’s streak of six consecutive starts of six or more innings was over. He allowed six runs (five earned), six hits and three home runs in the loss.

But his supporting cast answered the early call with impressive if meaningless fortitude. Jeff Criswell, Victor Vodnik and Anthony Molina managed six scoreless innings before Tyler Kinley allowed two in overtime. By this point, the weekday crowd was making more noise about off-field pop-ups than anything happening on the field. Five innings had passed since the dull game’s only exciting moment: Rockies left fielder Sam Hilliard threw a pinpoint throw — no room for error, no hops — and caught Pavin Smith at the plate on an Arizona single. Catcher Hunter Goodman didn’t even have to move his glove to make the strike.