Story, Marquez keep Rockies hot in the cold

On a snowy day in Pittsburg, with their best player still serving a five-game suspension, the Colorado Rockies emerged victorious for the fifth time in their last six contests. Four of those have come out on the road where Colorado has been demonstrably better in the early going than they have been at home.

The 6-2 win was powered by some fantastic pitching from German Marquez and the bullpen, more great defense, and the power of Charlie Blackmon and Trevor Story.

The Rockies once again got the scoring going in the first inning. DJ LeMahieu kept showing value as a lead-off hitter by beginning the game with a walk. He scored on a double that Chris Iannetta shot into the opposite-field gap. Iannetta moved up on a ball in the dirt and scored on a groundout off the bat of Blackmon.

With one out in the fourth, Ian Desmond drew a walk after falling behind 0-2 and Carlos Gonzalez singled before Story smashed his fourth home run of the season—he waited back on a breaking ball and hammered it into the seats in left.

Despite his struggles in Washington, he still looked like he was seeing the ball well, those guys were just throwing some ridiculous stuff. Story is locked in right now and has to be among the most feared hitters in this lineup, especially for mistake-prone pitchers.

That the lineup put up another solid performance in less than ideal conditions without Nolan Arenado is absolutely of note.

German Marquez was brilliant through the early portion of the game. He didn’t give up a hit until the fifth when Francisco Cervelli hit a jam-shot sinking liner that Gonzalez tried to catch on the dive, but it skipped past the right fielder and Cervelli ended up with a triple. He scored on a sac fly from Colin Moran.

The Pirates second run came in the sixth when Starling Marte tripled the more traditional way, scoring Gregory Polanco who had walked. Marte has a 15-game hit streak against the Rockies.

Those were the only blemishes on Marquez’ day and while the elements weren’t quite as extreme as he saw in the Home Opener, he handled this cold, snowy day much better.

In the eighth, Colorado got an insurance from a Blackmon solo shot over the wall in right. It was his seventh home run in 13 games played. All of them have come on the road. It was his third straight game with a homer since returning from some back and right quad tightness.

Chris Rusin and Adam Ottavino slammed the door shut in the final three innings, Otto recording a pair of strikeouts in the ninth. He now has 22 Ks in 10.2 innings and has allowed just one run.

The Rockies are now 8-4 on the road.

Final Stats:

German Marquez: 6 IP, 2 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 6 K

Chris Rusin: 2 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K

Charlie Blackmon: 2-for-4 (.314) 1 R, 2 RBI, HR (7)

Trevor Story: 2-for-4, 1 R, 3 RBI, BB, HR (4) SB (3)

Chris Iannetta: 1-for-4, 1 R, 1 RBI

What’s Next:

The second game of the series between these two teams will take place Tuesday at 5:05 Mountain Time. Chad Bettis faces off against Trevor Williams.