Rockies run away from Reds in lopsided win

In a second half defined by brutal losses, the Colorado Rockies finally picked up a clean and comfortable win by a score of 12-2 over the Cincinnati Reds.

German Márquez made his second straight excellent start after hitting rock bottom in his last outing at Coors Field on July 15. He pitched seven strong innings, giving up two runs on five hits while striking out seven. He did not walk a batter.

The Rockies offense got started right away with a Charlie Blackmon single. He moved up on a bunt by David Dahl and Nolan Arenado walked to set up a three-run shot off the bat of Daniel Murphy that gave Colorado a solid early lead.

It was Murphy’s 11th home run of the season, a towering drive over the wall in center field.

The Reds answered right away by scratching out a run in the bottom of the first. Jesse Winker opened with a liner just inside fair territory in left for a double. He moved up on a balk from Márquez which ended up as a costly moment when a grounder to second from Joey Votto erased any chance of a shutout.

Márquez limited the damage to that one run, but a solo home run to Josh VanMeter opened the second inning, bringing the home team to within a run at 3-2.

Colorado missed a chance to add in the third but swung the sticks for another three-run inning in the fourth.

Tony Wolters got the rally started with a one-out infield single that just rolled by third baseman Eugenio Suarez. Wolters advanced to second on a sac bunt from Márquez and scored on an opposite-field double from Blackmon. Dahl backed that up with a screaming line drive, no-doubt home run over the bleachers in right. His 14th round-tripper of the season gave the Rockies a 6-2 lead.

Márquez settled in nicely, sitting down 11 straight after the VanMeter home run before working around a two-out single from Tucker Barnhart in the fifth; he’d finish the day by working out of a seventh-inning jam brilliantly.

The inning began quickly with a double and a single to put runners at the corners. But it ended just as quickly with a punch out and a double play to complete another fantastic outing for the 24-year-old.

Scott Oberg stranded a leadoff single with an otherwise clean eighth inning.

The Rockies really poured it on in the top of the ninth. A trio of singles from Wolters,  Yonder Alonso, and Blackmon brought in a run.

After a Dahl force out and an Arenado walk loaded the bases, a double from Murphy unloaded them for another three runs.

Ryan McMahon kept it going with a single to score Murphy while Raimel Tapia added an RBI double to make it a six-run inning and give Colorado a 12-2 lead.

Chad Bettis picked up the final three outs to secure the win for Colorado, 12-2.