The Sim Rockies jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first inning and never looked back on Wednesday, completing a sweep of Sim Kansas City (34-48) and extending their winning streak to four games. With the uptick in wins, the Rockies (36-44) have climbed out of the last-place seat in the National League (thank you Mets and Cardinals), but are still in last in the NL West.
Going yard for big innings
David Dahl and Daniel Murphy have been red hot at the plate and they continued that trend on Wednesday, hitting back-to-back doubles in the first inning to help the Rockies take a 1-0 lead. Nolan Arenado then crushed his 23rd homer of the year and the Rockies increased their lead to 3-0. The third inning brought three more homers. They were all solo, but they doubled the lead. Murphy started the show, immediately followed by Charlie Blackmon, who extended his hitting streak to 15 games. After Arenado flied out, Ryan McMahon smashed a 453-foot jack to center to round out the Rockies scoring. McMahon’s homer chased Kansas City starter Jakob Junis after 2 2/3 innings after he gave up six runs on six hits with two strikeouts and no walks.
A win for Germán
This was Germán Márquez’s fifth start since a brief stint in Triple-A and his second win over that stretch. In his first four games, he couldn’t get passed the sixth inning and only reached the sixth once, despite never giving up more than three runs. On Wednesday, he pitched six solid innings, giving up the same three runs. Like in his other win, a 7-3 win over the Giants on May 29, the biggest difference in this was run support from the offense. Márquez gave up nine hits, walking two, and striking out five and improving to 6-6 on the season. Through four innings, Márquez held the Royals scoreless. In the fifth, Kansas City scored all three of its runs, led by a two-run homer by Brett Phillips and an RBI single from Alex Gordon. The damage could have been much worse as the Royals had the bases loaded with one out, but Jorge Soler grounded into a double play to end the threat.
Bullpen does its job
James Pazos pitched a scoreless seventh inning before there was a little drama in the eighth inning when Wade Davis took over against his former team. Hunter Dozier led off with a double for Kansas City, and after striking out Ryan O’Hearn, Wade Davis walked Phillips. Bud Black turned to Tyler Kinley, who yielded a fly out and strikeout to get out of the inning. Scott Oberg came in to close out the game in the ninth, and despite giving up a two-run double to Whit Merrified, didn’t surrender a run and recorded his 11th save.
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Up next
The Sim Rockies will be off on Thursday before starting a six-game road trip to take on the Twins and Pirates. Up first will be a showdown against Minnesota, who is currently in first place in the AL Central. Jon Gray (2-7, 5.55) will be on the mound for the Rockies, who will be facing off against a familiar face in former Dodger Kenta Maeda (7-4, 2.93). The game will be broadcast on YouTube with the first pitch at 6:15 p.m.