Rockies 5, Pirates 0: German Márquez dominates as the Rockies get the win

The Colorado Rockies got an outstanding start from one of their starting pitchers and got their offense back on track enough to cruise to an easy win on Tuesday as they beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 5-0.

German Márquez dominates

Eight innings. Seven strikeouts and just three hits and a single walk. No runs. All on 104 pitches. He even got a hit, because of course he did.

Márquez was simply brilliant. He commanded his fastball and curveball to near perfection. It wasn’t just that he was throwing strikes. Márquez was locating within the zone. Pirates’ hitters couldn’t get anything going against him and didn’t make much by way of solid contact. Any minor threat was squashed quickly.

That cliché about having a stopper in your rotation applied here in a big way. Márquez gave the Rockies a dominant start that they desperately needed. There was a scary moment in the eighth inning where he took a comeback line drive off the leg, but he was able to stay in the game and finish the inning.

Get on the board however you can

It wouldn’t be fair to call this an example of bad Rockies baserunning. Lots of teams run on contact with a runner on third and less than two outs. With that qualifier out of the way, it still felt like such a Rockies moment that Daniel Murphy should have been out at home by like 15 feet.

But look at what that crafty veteran pulled off (with some serious help from a Pirates goof).

He also hit a line drive off the wall to get on base in the first place. That was a welcome sight, because the Rockies need Murphy to start producing more consistently.

Blackmon continues to scorch the ball

The Rockies can certainly count on Blackmon to produce at the top of the lineup these days. Chuck Nazty continued his hot streak with a three-hit day that included a two-RBI triple. He now leads the National League in that category with five triples.

Trevor Story also chipped in with this home run that maybe should have been caught:

Looking ahead

The Rockies continue their series against the Pirates on Wednesday with Jon Gray on the mound against a starter yet to be announced.