DENVER -- It wasn’t a “must-win” game for the D-backs when they took the field for their series finale against the Rockies at Coors Field on Wednesday. But Arizona needed a win.

After dropping their first two games to Colorado and scoring a combined four runs, the team with the highest-scoring offense in the game needed a reset. It also needed to maintain its position in the National League Wild Card standings.

Not only did the offense return in Arizona’s 9-4 win, but one of the club’s big offseason signings turned in his finest performance in a D-backs uniform.

Eduardo Rodriguez, who began the season on the injured list due to a left lat strain and didn’t make his D-backs debut until Aug. 7, posted a 5.50 ERA over his first seven starts and hadn’t gone more than 5 2/3 innings in any of them.

But on Wednesday, the left-hander tamed the Rockies’ offense -- and their ballpark -- with 6 1/3 strong frames, over which he gave up two runs on five hits while walking one and striking out 11. Those 11 K’s were the most in a single game for Rodriguez since Sept. 14, 2019, when he was with the Red Sox.

“We needed him to step up in a big way,” said manager Torey Lovullo. “And he did.”

With Ryne Nelson (and his 3.39 ERA since the All-Star break) recently landing on the injured list, and Jordan Montgomery still trying to find his way with the D-backs, a Rodriguez resurgence could go a long way to getting Arizona back to the postseason after a surprise World Series run last fall.

It’s been a long road to this point since Rodriguez signed a four-year, $80 million contract with the D-backs last offseason. But a turnaround has to start somewhere, and if this is that place, it couldn’t come at a better time for Arizona.

“I was sitting back and watching everybody play, and now that I’m back here, I’ve just been kind of grinding the last couple starts,” Rodriguez said. “To be available to go out there and feel great about all my pitches and everything. … To be out there and executing, it was great.”

Rodriguez didn’t have to worry about run support. He got all he needed by the second inning. The D-backs scored three times in each of the first two frames, then tacked on three more in the ninth.

Corbin Carroll launched a pair of homers -- a 438-foot solo shot in the first inning off the second deck in right-center field and a two-run laser over the wall in right in the second.

With his first homer, Carroll became the fifth player in D-backs history to have multiple 20-homer/20-steal seasons, joining Chris Young (three), Paul Goldschmidt (two), Justin Upton (two) and Eric Byrnes (two). Carroll, who has 29 steals this year, also became the 11th player in AL/NL history to have multiple 20-20 seasons by his age-23 campaign.

For Carroll, whose season got off to a rough start after an NL Rookie of the Year campaign in 2023, reaching 20-20 means a lot.

“Given the way the season started out, I think if you asked me in the middle of the season if this was possible, it definitely wasn’t on my mind,” he said.

Carroll’s first-inning blast set the tone for an offensive awakening. Had the lineup remained punchless for three days in the mile-high altitude of Denver, the flight to Milwaukee for four games against the Brewers as the regular season enters its final 10 days would have been pensive.

“I think getting swept here would not have been what we were thinking coming into Colorado,” Carroll said. “But just finding a way to win this one and move on is good.”

The D-backs (84-68) now move on to what could very well be a photo finish in the NL Wild Card race. They are tied with the Mets (84-68) for the second Wild Card spot, two games ahead of the Braves (82-70).

Arizona knows that when it comes to the postseason, you can win it if you get in it.

“If you were to tell me in Spring Training that we’d be in the position we’re in with 10 games to go, I’d sign up for that every single time,” Lovullo said. “We know what we need to get done inside our dugout, inside our clubhouse.

“I don’t want to rely on anybody else. I want to do it the D-back way.”