Rockies beat Diamondbacks 3-2 on 9th-inning error as Senzatela returns from Tommy John surgery

DENVER (AP) — Brenton Doyle scored the winning run on a ninth-inning throwing error, and Colorado dealt a blow to the Arizona Diamondbacks' playoff chances with a 3-2 win Monday night in a game that marked the return of Rockies pitcher Antonio Senzatela from Tommy John surgery.

Ezequiel Tovar and Hunter Goodman homered for the Rockies, who beat the Diamondbacks for only the third time in 11 meetings this season.

“Pitching won for us today, and we had great performances from the bullpen,” Tovar said through an interpreter.

Ketel Marte hit a two-run homer for the defending NL champion Diamondbacks (83-67), who are in the second NL wild card position, one game ahead of the New York Mets and two in front of Atlanta.

Doyle singled off Ryan Thompson (7-5) leading off the ninth and stole second. Ryan McMahon was intentionally walked, Brendan Rodgers hit a grounder to Marte, and the second baseman flipped the ball to shortstop Geraldo Perdomo for a forceout. But Perdomo’s throw to first trying for a double play was wide of Christian Walker as Doyle scored.

“He just yanked his throw off the line,” Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo said. “It would have been a big double plays.”

Seth Halvorsen (2-0) pitched two scoreless innings.

Senzatela, a 29-year-old right-hander, allowed two runs and four hits in three-plus innings with two strikeouts and two walks. He threw 42 of 67 pitches for strikes and averaged 95 mph with 39 fastballs. He also threw 15 sliders, eight changeups and five curveballs,

Senzatela's 2022 season was cut short when he tore his left ACL on Aug. 18 during a game at St. Louis when he took a bad step rushing to cover first base on an infield grounder.

He returned last year and pitched on May 5 and 10, leaving the second start with a strained right elbow. He later was diagnosed with a torn UCL and had Tommy John surgery on July 26.

“I just want to say thank you to everybody who supported me during this long year, my teammates, my family, my trainers, my coaches,” Senzatela said. “It didn’t start very well, but it is what it is. I tried to to keep the game there for the team and at the end of the day we got a win and that’s all that matters.”

Corbin Carroll tripled leading off and Marte followed with his 32nd homer, a drive to straightaway center.

Arizona's Merrill Kelly gave up one run and two hits in six innings, allowing Tovar's 24th homer leading off the fourth.

Goodman tied the score in the seventh against Kevin Ginkel with his 12th homer.

“It’s frustrating, extremely frustrating, especially coming off the game yesterday where we had a lead and then gave up some costly runs,” Ginkel said. “With the Goodman at-bat, it was a slider. I think he was anticipating it. It wasn’t my best slider I’ve thrown, but it wasn’t horrible. I was not expecting that to be a home run. I was expecting maybe a double, if anything. So that part of it was extremely frustrating and allowed them to tie the game.”

TRAINER’S ROOM

Diamondbacks: OF Lourdes Gurriel Jr., who has been sidelined with a left calf injury since Sept. 2, ran conditioning drills at 80% and is scheduled to go full tilt Tuesday in a game at the team's Arizona training facility.

Rockies: RHP Jake Bird was optioned to Triple-A Albuquerque to make roster room for Senzatela, who was activated from the 60-day IL.

UP NEXT

Colorado RHP Ryan Feltner (2-10, 4.89) is set to make his career-best 28th start of the season Tuesday night. He’ll be seeking his first win in four career appearances against the Diamondbacks, who counter with LHP Jordan Montgomery (8-6, 6.25 ERA). Montgomery is 2-0 in his previous starts against the Rockies.

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb

Arizona Diamondbacks' Corbin Carroll, left, congratulates Ketel Marte as he crosses home plate after hitting a two-run home run off Colorado Rockies starting pitcher Antonio Senzatela in the first inning of a baseball game, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

Colorado Rockies starting pitcher Antonio Senzatela works against the Arizona Diamondbacks in the first inning of a baseball game, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

Colorado Rockies starting pitcher Antonio Senzatela takes of his cap as he heads to the dugout after bing pulled from the mound in the fourth inning of a baseball game against the Arizona Diamondbacks, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

Colorado Rockies starting pitcher Antonio Senzatela heads to the dugout after being pulled form the mound in the fourth inning of a baseball game against the Arizona Diamondbacks, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

Colorado Rockies' Brenton Doyle is congratulated after scoring the winning run on a force out hit into by Brendan Rodgers in the ninth inning of a baseball game against the Arizona Diamondbacks, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

Colorado Rockies' Brenton Doyle singles off Arizona Diamondbacks relief pitcher Ryan Thompson in the ninth inning of a baseball game Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

Colorado Rockies relief pitcher Seth Halvorsen works against the Arizona Diamondbacks in the ninth inning of a baseball game Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

Colorado Rockies' Charlie Blackmon smiles as he tries to douse television analyst Ryan Spilborghs after the Rockies' walkoff victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks in a baseball game Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

MILWAUKEE (AP) — As election officials across the country boost security ahead of November's election, the leader of one of the most intensely scrutinized offices in a presidential swing state said it's not personal threats or worries about conflicts at the polls that keep her up at night.

It's the little things that could loom large once voting begins, the day-to-day logistics of making sure everything runs smoothly at 180 polling sites in Milwaukee, Wisconsin's largest city, from ensuring there are enough ballots to having a sufficient number of poll workers.

“Being a new election administrator is a big challenge,” Paulina Gutierrez said at Milwaukee's elections center as workers prepared to meet Thursday's deadline for mailing absentee ballots. “This is a huge operation of logistics and ensuring, ‘Have we covered everything?’”

Wisconsin is one the major political battlegrounds that will help decide the presidency. It is also one of the states where former President Donald Trump disputed his loss four years ago and where some of his most loyal supporters served as fake electors to challenge the outcome. The pressure on election officials is immense, especially in large, Democratic strongholds such as Milwaukee, which have been the focus of false claims by Trump of election wrongdoing in the past.

Adding to the pressure on Gutierrez is that this year's presidential election will be the first major election she will oversee. With early voting nearing, she's undaunted.

“I’m feeling really confident my staff and I are ready," she said.

Born and raised in Milwaukee, Gutierrez primarily worked for the state prison system and other city jobs for 17 years before being tapped to lead the Milwaukee elections department.

Because of the importance of Milwaukee in presidential politics, it was something of a shock in May — just six months before the election — when the city's mayor announced that he was replacing the top election administrator, who had presided over the 2020 presidential election and had been with the city’s election commission for more than a decade.

Gutierrez, the deputy elections director since early 2023, took over. She has since overseen an August primary election without incident and earned bipartisan praise.

Mayor Cavalier Johnson, a Democrat, who appointed Gutierrez, said he was “extremely” confident in her, citing the smooth primary election.

“We’ve been working diligently, around the clock to make sure that we’re in a position to execute the election successfully,” Johnson said. “And I have confidence that we will absolutely do that.”

Republicans who oversee elections in the state also expressed confidence that Milwaukee and Gutierrez are ready, a sign that perhaps the elections office will escape the false claims around voting and harassment of staff that has plagued so many election offices elsewhere since 2020.

“Paulina has done exceptionally well grasping everything,” said Doug Haag, the Republican member of the Milwaukee Election Commission.

He and Republican Bob Spindell, who served 18 years as a Milwaukee election commissioner and is now on the state elections commission, both praised longtime city workers and volunteers with helping to ensure the process runs smoothly.

“We are dedicated to election integrity and making sure the process runs smoothly,” Haag said.

Spindell, who served as a fake elector for Trump in 2020 and bragged following the 2022 midterm election about efforts to depress Black and Hispanic voter turnout in Milwaukee, said he doesn’t know Gutierrez but praised how the August primary was run and said the city is ready for November.

“It appears everything is working out pretty well,” he said. “I have not heard complaints from anybody.”

The praise is notable, given that scrutiny of elections officials across the country has never been higher. Clerks are also dealing with threats against them and election workers.

“I have not received any threats,” Gutierrez said. “But our office does, every once in a while, receive harassing phone calls. And it typically it’s not from people from our community. We always have to remain vigilant.”

Political parties and outside groups are working to increase the number of poll watchers in Wisconsin and other battleground states. That has led to worries of an increased risk of confrontations and problems at voting locations.

This year brings an added level of anxiety after updates to the poll watcher rules were rejected by a Republican-controlled legislative committee, leading to concerns that both observers and poll workers won’t know the law.

Gutierrez has received some guidance in the past four months to help her prepare.

Her predecessor, Claire Woodall, had a separation agreement with the city that allowed her to work with Gutierrez into August to smooth the transition. Her departure came after the former deputy elections commissioner, Kimberly Zapata, was was convicted in March of misconduct in office and fraud for obtaining fake absentee ballots. Zapata argued that she was acting as a whistleblower, exposing vulnerabilities in the state’s election system.

Since 2020, election officials throughout Wisconsin have made changes to protect the security of the vote, improve how elections are run and ward off allegations of wrongdoing should Trump once again question the outcome.

Those steps include additional training of officials in the more than 1,800 cities, towns and villages across the state that actually run elections and bolstering security of the state's voter registration database. They also have implemented a series of recommended improvements made in a statewide audit and updating the absentee ballot envelope to reduce common errors and improve visibility in the postal system.

A challenge across the state is that many election officials, like Gutierrez, are new to their roles this year. Wisconsin has seen high turnover in officials who run elections, mirroring the national trend following the 2020 election, and about 40% of county clerks will be administering their first presidential election. Those 72 elected county clerks prepare and distribute ballots to the 1,850 local officials, including Gutierrez, who then run the elections.

Much of the criticism of Milwaukee has come because of how late the city sometimes reports votes that are cast absentee and counted at one central location. State law forbids reporting partial results, which means results in places such as Milwaukee and Green Bay, both of which are heavily Democratic, are not reported in high turnout elections until deep into election night.

Since 2020, the city has taken steps designed to speed the counting of absentee ballots, including buying faster machines to process the ballots and recruiting more workers. Gutierrez anticipates about half as many absentee ballots will be cast this year as were cast during the pandemic four years ago, which should speed the counting.

Her highest priority, she said, is making certain that the election she is overseeing withstands all scrutiny.

“I have been dedicating my entire career to public service," she said. "I am born and raised for the city of Milwaukee. My family lives here. I am dedicated to ensuring that we have safe, secure and fair elections.”

Milwaukee's election administrator Paulina Gutierrez, right, talks to Phyllis Whitley, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, in the city's election operation center in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)

Milwaukee's election administrator Paulina Gutierrez, left, talks to Phyllis Whitley, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, in the city's election operation center in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)

Milwaukee's election administrator Paulina Gutierrez poses for a photo Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, in the city's election operation center in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)