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LOS ANGELES» There was a small moment, obscured by bigger moments on this big stage, that spoke volumes about German Marquez’s performance Saturday in front of 46,176 fans at Dodger Stadium.
After getting the Dodgers’ Max Muncy to fly out to left to end the sixth inning, Marquez pumped his fist as he walked off the mound. Sure, his no-hitter had been spoiled earlier in the inning, but the Rockies’ young right-handed knew how important it was to squelch the Dodgers’ rally at that moment.
And so the Rockies rode Marquez’s brilliant eight-inning start to a 3-1 victory over Los Angeles for their third consecutive victory. Marquez, 23, was charged with one run on just two hits. He walked no one and struck out nine, needing just 92 pitches.
How good was Marquez? How confident? In the eighth inning, he struck out Enrique Hernandez with a 99.9 mph heater up in the zone. According to Statcast, it was fastest pitch of Marquez’s career, and the fastest this year by a bigleague starter in the eighth inning or later.
“I was just trying to hit the target and throw a good pitch, and I let it rip,” said Marquez, who in three career starts at Dodger Stadium is 2-0 with a 1.89 ERA.
“He was dotting,” Hernandez said. “This was the first time I’ve ever faced him, so it’s hard for me to compare, but he was hitting his spots, hitting the corners. He had every pitch working for him. Late in the game, the shadows were creeping in. As the game went on, he kept throwing harder and harder. That adds to it.”
Adam Ottavino gave up one hit but pitched a scoreless ninth to notch his second save.
Manager Bud Black, who celebrated his 61st birthday Saturday, said it was the best start of Marquez’s career — better, even, than his eight-inning win over the Cubs on May 10, 2017.
“To do this for eight innings, on the road, against a very good team, is not surprising,” Black said. “It’s a big step for a young pitcher. You gain confidence with games like this. It was a fabulous game for German.”
Marquez’s masterpiece piggybacked on Tyler Anderson’s eightinning gem Friday night to take the first two games of the series vs. the Dodgers. In both games, Chris Iannetta was behind the plate, and that was a huge factor.
“I have to give a great deal of credit to Chris,” Black said. “That’s back-to-back games of shutting down this lineup with pitch calling. I didn’t see German shake him off one time.”
Marquez’s flirtation with perfection ended with his second pitch of the sixth inning. Hernandez launched Marquez’s 94 mph, 1-0 fastball down the left-field line, cutting Colorado’s lead to 2-1.
Colorado stretched its lead to 3-1 in the seventh on a leadoff ground-rule double to right by Trevor Story, a walk by Gerardo Parra and a clutch RBI single by Iannetta. Marquez laid down a squeeze bunt up the first-base line, trying to score Parra from third, but L.A. catcher Yasmani Grandal pounced on the ball and then dived back to the plate to tag out the sliding Parra.
Colorado scraped together a 1-0 lead in the fourth. DJ Lemahieu led off with a double down the third-base line against Maeda and advanced to third on Charlie Blackmon’s flyball out to deep center. Maeda whiffed Nolan Arenado, but Grandal let the ball skip past him, allowing Lemahieu to score easily. Grandal was charged with a passed ball.
Ian Desmond, who’s had a number of big hits this season, stretched Colorado’s lead to 2-0 with a solo shot off Maeda to open the fifth. Desmond’s no-doubter to left was his 17th homer of the season, and his 13th on the road — a career high for road homers. Desmond, however, preferred to talk about the momentum he sees the Rockies building after a tough stretch of games.
“Baseball is like hockey; it’s line changes,” he said. “At one point it’s going to be the pitching, at one point it’s going to be the defense picking you up, and one time it’s going to be the offense.”