What looked like a promising outing quickly spiraled into despair as the Sim Rockies lost to the Sim Pirates for the first time all season. Both teams scored early, but it turned out better for the Sim Pirates than the Sim Rockies.
Ahoy, Sam Hilliard!
Sam Hilliard showed his power once again, launching a three-run home run to dead center in the second inning. That gave the Sim Rockies an early 3-0 lead once Daniel Murphy and Ryan McMahon also came around to score. That was Hilliard’s only hit of the day. Murphy finished with two hits, and McMahon and Nolan Arenado also had one hit apiece. If you’re counting, the team was held to five hits — three of which came in the second inning.
Sim Pirates starter Jameson Taillon pitched 6 2⁄3 innings, in which he gave up three runs on four hits, walked two and struck out seven. The only two Sim Rockies starters to not strike out at all were David Dahl and Trevor Story.
Pitching swashbuckled by the opposition
Germán Márquez seemed to be doing better since returning from Triple-A. He wasn’t stellar, but solid. He’d been lasting around five innings per game, giving up three runs or less in each start. However, he’s only won twice since his return. With this loss, his record is now 6-7 on the year with a 6.23 ERA. That’s a great number for a west Phoenix area code, but not so much for a major league starting pitcher, especially one expected to be the “ace” of the staff.
The wheels absolutely fell off in the third inning, and that’s where the Sim Bucs did the most damage. Adam Frazier started things off with an RBI single to score Kevin Newman and make it 3-1 Sim Rockies. Márquez was then hit by a pitch deflected off the bat of Colin Moran, which scored Frazier. Not to be shown up, José Osuna hit a bases-clearing double to score Bryan Reynolds, Gregory Polanco, and Colin Moran to make it 5-3 Sim Pirates after a 3-0 Sim Rockies start to the inning.
Márquez was allowed to pitch one more inning, but was pulled after four. In those four innings, he gave up five earned runs on eight hits, walked four and struck out five. It was his worst outing since his return. He is going to have to figure some things out soon if he doesn’t want to walk the plank back to the minors again.
Jeff Hoffman relieved Márquez in the fifth and pitched two innings. In those two innings, he gave up one earned run (an RBI single to Kevin Newman — his second hit of the day) on two hits, walked three and struck out one. His ERA is climbing as well, and now sits at 5.56.
Late relievers kept their sea legs
Tim Collins and James Pazos closed things out for the Sim Rockies, pitching an inning apiece. Neither of them yielded a run nor a walk, and each gave up as many hits (2 for Collins, 1 for Pazos) as they did strikeouts.
Up next
The Sim Rockies look to salvage the series in the rubber match on Wednesday. Jon Gray (2-7, 5.86 ERA) will face off against Joe Musgrove (5-3, 2.72 ERA). There will not be a broadcast this time, but check in to Purple Row for the recap!