Marquez polishes his second straight gem
After putting together the best outing of his young career last week in Los Angeles, German Marquez turned in another gem — and the Rockies finally teed off in old-school Coors Field fashion — as Colorado beat the Reds 8-2 on Sunday to win the threegame series.
Marquez turned in his second consecutive seveninning, one-run outing, with his lone scoring damage coming via a Scooter Gennett RBI double in the first.
“The confidence carried over (from L.A.),” Marquez said. “I commanded my fastball pretty well, and I combined that with my breaking pitches, which I was throwing in the zone as well.”
Beyond that first inning — one in which Marquez has struggled as a whole this season, posting an 11.45 ERA — the right-hander diced, allowing just three more hits and no more runs while striking out six.
“I feed off the fact that I’m getting deep into the games — getting stronger, more adrenaline, and trying to finish up what I started,” Marquez said.
Meanwhile, Colorado’s lineup popped off multiple times against Reds starter Matt Harvey. First it was by way of two response homers in the bottom of the first, when David Dahl’s solo shot was followed a few batters later by Carlos Gonzalez’s monstrous tworun, 461-foot homer to the upper deck of right field that made it 3-1 Rockies.
And as Marquez settled in, the Rockies padded their lead.
In the sixth, Charlie Blackmon singled in Tony Wolters, and then Nolan Arenado — who tweaked his right groin during his third-inning at-bat — put any injury fears to rest with a 449-foot homer to center that extended the advantage to 6-1.
“As the game went on, it didn’t get any worse,” Arenado said. “It was just there, and I just stayed in because the game was close. I knew I could pull through it. It wasn’t anything sharp, so it wasn’t bad.”
Ian Desmond got in on the act as well with his tworun homer in the eighth that made it 8-1, the ninth dinger of the season for the first baseman.
“Every single guy contributing is what a good lineup wants to accomplish,” manager Bud Black said. “From Marquez’s sacrifice bunt that was in front of Charlie’s base hit that got us to 4-1, to Tony (Wolters) having some good at-bats, Desmond hitting a big fly and CarGo also having a big day (at 4-for-4).”
The Rockies bullpen did the rest after Marquez was pulled. Mike Dunn loaded the bases with no outs in the eighth with two walks and a hit but was able to get a strikeout before Adam Ottavino came on and forced an inning-ending double play to escape the jam.
Right-hander Brooks Pounders tried to polish off the win in the ninth, but the Reds got a run back and forced a Wade Davis appearance with one out and the bases loaded. Davis’ first pitch was lined right back to him, and he caught it and tossed to third for the game-ending double play.