Rockies 5, Giants 2: Márquez keeps San Francisco in check

This is fun. The Rockies are rolling. Germán Márquez recorded his second win after giving up only two runs in 7 1/3 innings. Charlie Blackmon drove in two runs and Nolan Arenado scored two, one on a homer. The Rockies are now 8-2 in their first ten games and remain in first place in the NL West with a one-game lead over the Dodgers, who beat the Padres on Tuesday night.

Márquez on the Mark

Germán made it to the eighth inning and threw 101 pitches, the longest outing for a Rockie this season. He was outstanding — nine strikeouts, including all three outs in the second. He attacked hitters, throwing a first-pitch strike to the first 17 Giants he faced. That shattered a Rockies record of 11 set by Josh Fogg (2006) and Jason Jennings (2004). The only damage came in the fifth when, after one-out singles by Brandon Crawford and Maurcio Dubon, the 17-batter streak ended when Steven Duggar took a ball and then hit a homer. Or so the umpires and everyone thought, except Duggar who stayed at second base. It turns out Duggar knew best because the ball bounced off the top of the wall, hitting the yellow pad, but then bouncing back into play. If it would have bounced out, it would have been a homer. Instead, Duggar was stuck at second. Instead of a 3-all tie, the Rockies maintained a 3-2 lead. Márquez (2-1) didn’t walk a batter until the eighth inning. Through 19 innings this season, he now has a 1.89 ERA. Márquez improved to 2-1 on the season with the win, which was the 40^th of his career.

Yeah Yency!

Yency Almonte entered in the eighth with one out and one on. With one pitch, he got Brandon Belt to hit into a double play. In the ninth, Trevor Story made a great stop on a Evan Longoria grounder, but Longoria still reached on an infield single. Two pitches later, Pablo Sandoval hit into a double play. Almonte then ended the game after forcing Tyler Heineman to ground out to seal the deal on his first career save. Almonte pitched great, but he also gave the bullpen a well-deserved break. After the game, Bud Black said Carlos Estéves and Jario Díaz weren’t going to pitch and he didn’t want to use Daniel Bard or Tyler Kinley. Marquez really helped give everyone a break and Almonte deserved the chance for the save.

Whatever it Takes

The Rockies only got six hits, but they also got a nice gift from the Giants: three errors. In the first inning, David Dahl led off with a triple of the centerfield wall and then came home on a Charlie Blackmon sacrifice fly. Blackmon started the next rally, singling to led off the fourth and extending his hitting streak to eight games. Nolan Arenado walked and then Daniel Murphy reached on catcher’s interference that would have been a flyout, but instead loaded the bases with no outs. Matt Kemp then drove in his eighth run of the season on a fielder’s choice before Sam Hilliard hit an RBI single to put the Rockies up 3-0. In the eighth, Trevor Story led off with a walk and then advanced to second on a throwing error when the Giants tried to pick him off. Blackmon made them pay for the mistake with a single to drive in his team-leading 11^th RBI. Colorado native Kevin Gausman took the loss for the Giants, giving up four earned runs in 5 1/3 innings with seven strikeouts, five hits, and one walk.

Nolan being Nolan

Arenado was pretty special in the sixth inning. In other words, he was just being himself. In his first eight games, he didn’t hit any homers. In the last two, he’s hit two. Let’s face it: he just needed to play the Giants. He crushed a solo shot to left that reached the seats in 3.5 seasons to give the Rockies a 4-2 lead.

In the top of the frame, he robbed Longoria of a hit when he quickly nabbed a low line drive.

Glorious.

Up Next

The Rockies will take on the Giants (5-7) again in the third game of the four-game series at 6:40 p.m. MT. Jon Gray will pitch for the Rockies, while Logan Webb will get the start for San Francisco.