Marquez pitches rare “immaculate inning”

Nine pitches, all of them for strikes, resulting in three strikeouts. There has to be a special name for that, right?

Sure is. “Immaculate inning.” Rockies right-hander German Marquez delivered one Wednesday in the fourth inning of Colorado’s 4-3 loss to Pittsburgh. It was only the second time it has happened in Rockies history. Rex Brothers accomplished the feat on June 14, 2014, at San Francisco. Marquez’s immaculate inning was the first at Coors Field.

“That’s great,” the 23-year-old right-hander said. “I wasn’t even aware of that, but I’m very glad to be on that list. It’s exciting.”

Marquez’s fastball command was off Wednesday, as evidenced by the 10 hits he allowed over six innings, but the fourth inning showed just how dominant a pitcher Marquez can be. He whiffed the top of the Pirates’ order — Corey Dickerson, Starling Marte and Gregory Polanco — getting strike three on curveballs all three times.

“I thought my curveball was really sharp today, and I felt I could use it right there,” Marquez said.

Catcher Tony Wolters wasn’t aware that Marquez had thrown a 100 percent pure inning until later.

“It was super quick. I was like, ‘Dang, he threw a quick inning!’ ” Wolters said. “That was nice. It was more like, dude! I think of Marquez as a guy who punches guys out. I expect him to strike guys out. But I didn’t really realize he was doing that.”

Immaculate innings are indeed rare, but not as much as they used to be. There were none in the majors from 1929-52, but there were eight of them in 2017. Marquez’s was the third this season. Kevin Gausman did it with the Orioles on April 23 against Cleveland (before the Grandview High School alumnus was traded to Atlanta), and Washington ace Max Scherzer accomplished the feat against Tampa Bay on June 5.