With one swing of the bat, Nolan Arenado reminded the Colorado Rockies what success looks like. With a pair aboard in another tight game in the fifth, he jumped all over a fastball and crushed it into the left field bleachers for a three-run jack. And you could feel the entire squad exhale.

It was his first home run of the season and it came when his team absolutely needed it.

It also came on a day in which starting pitcher German Marquez flirted with throwing the second no-hitter in franchise history. Going into the eighth, he had only allowed one baserunner on a hit batsman before Evan Longoria pulled a seeing-eye single just past a diving Arenado.

There was talk after the eighth-straight loss on Saturday that something needed to change. It came from yours truly, most everyone on Twitter, and even Ian Desmond in his postgame comments.

Nothing dramatic happened. No call-ups or send-downs. Manager Bud Black elected to bat his pitcher eighth and catcher ninth, but other than that, it looked like the same Rockies took the field. Yet, they sure looked different once they did.

The patience was there from the beginning against lefty Derek Holland and it eventually paid off.

Colorado got on the board in the third inning with a two-out, two-man rally. Arenado remained patient despite all the pressure building on the offense and drew a walk and raced all the way around the bases when Trevor Story lined a double into the gap in left field.

Still, a 1-0 lead could not be considered a breakthrough for the lineup. That finally came in the fifth.

After a Tony Wolters groundout, Charlie Blackmon and Garrett Hampson produced solid back-to-back singles to center and right field respectively.

That set the stage for Arenado to, at long last, hit his home run and give the Rockies something they have not had since the opening series in Miami: the breathing room that comes with a 4-0 lead.

With the way Marquez was pitching, it felt like the first time all season that the Rockies could truly take a deep breath and feel totally in command of a baseball game.

Marquez’ no-hitter was broken up in in the eighth but he was as close to as perfect as you can find without technically being so. He completed the shutout, allowing just the two baserunners, striking out nine without walking a batter. It was arguably the most dominating pitching performance in Rockies’ history when you consider that Ubaldo Jimenez walked five in his no-hitter.

There could not have been a more emphatic way for the Rockies to finally tally a win and, in the hopes of every purple-clad fan, break out of the funk and begin the season anew.

Stats

German Marquez: 9 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 9 K

Nolan Arenado: 1-for-2, 2 R, 3 RBI, 2 BB, HR (1)

Trevor Story: 1-for-4, 1 RBI

What’s Next

The Rockies are off to San Diego for a set against the Padres beginning on Monday. Colorado has not made their starting pitcher official for the game but expect to see either Jeff Hoffman or Antonio Senzatela against Joey Lucchesi. First pitch at 8:10 Mountain Time.