BIG SIXTH INNING HELPS ROCKIES STOP SKID
Colorado puts end to five-game losing streak to complete road trip
» The Rockies needed SAN DIEG O some kind of spark Sunday at Petco Park to snap a five-game losing streak. German Marquez provided that on the mound and at the plate.
Marquez struck out nine while scattering five hits over eight innings and added an RBI single in the decisive sixth inning as the Rockies ended their six-game road trip on a winning note with an 8-3 victory.
“I thought he found his breaking ball in the middle part of the game,” Rockies manager Bud Black said of the success Marquez had Sunday. “The middle innings, fourth, fifth and sixth, he had a really good breaking ball. They were swinging at the ball down below the zone, so that tells me that out of the hand it looked like a strike, but it was diving down below the zone.”
The single by Marquez was part of a six-hit sixth inning for Colorado (53-65). The outburst came after the Rockies had just one hit through the game’s first five frames.
After a first inning when he worked out of trouble after a twoout walk to Manny Machado and a single by Eric Hosmer, Marquez couldn’t keep San Diego (55-62) off the scoreboard in the second. Padres catcher Francisco Mejia blasted Marquez’s second pitch of the inning 399 feet over the rightcenter-field wall to give the hosts a 1-0 lead.
The walk to Machado walk ended a streak of 22 consecutive innings without a walk for Marquez. That marked the third-longest streak in club history behind a 23M-inning run by Jose Jimenez in 2002 and Rafael Betancourt’s 22M-inning streak in 2011.
Josh Naylor added a solo home run in the third inning for the Padres, sending a 1-2 pitch from Marquez to almost the same spot
where Mejia’s landed an inning earlier. It was the 26th homer of the season surrendered by Marquez, who gave up 24 all of last season.
Colorado struggled against San Diego starter Dinelson Lamet through the game’s first five innings, registering just a third-inning double from Blackmon. However, Lamet’s luck changed quickly in the sixth.
Charlie Blackmon led off the inning with a single, and Yonder Alonso followed by rocketing Lamet’s first pitch over the wall for a two-run blast to knot the game at 2-2. It was Alonso’s second consecutive game with a home run and the 100th of his 10year major-league career.
Alonso’s blast chased Lamet, and Craig Stammen came on in relief for the Padres. Ryan McMahon promptly greeted him with a ground-rule double, and Ian Desmond, who entered the game after Yonathan Daza was forced to the bench after fouling a pitch off his foot, roped a single on the first pitch he saw to right field, plating McMahon and giving Colorado a 3-2 lead.
The single netted Desmond the 700th RBI of this career, with 182 of those coming in Desmond’s two-plus seasons in a Rockies uniform.
“The guys were playing good, and I was able to step in and contribute,” Desmond said. “We had good energy all day. It was one of those games where you just have a good feeling. Marquez was throwing the ball really well, and when he’s throwing the ball well, we all have a lot of confidence.”