Iannetta salvages Marquez' gem with extra-inning heroics

If you like good pitching, it was a perfect Wednesday in Tampa, Florida.

Charlie Morton was dazzling and devastating against the Colorado Rockies lineup but German Marquez matched him step for step in silencing the Tampa Bay Rays.

Not until the 11th was a single run scored in this one, a solo home run from Chris Iannetta that turned out to be the game winner of a 1-0 contest.

A walk for Nolan Arenado and a single for Trevor Story in the first inning, after two hard hit balls from Charlie Blackmon and David Dahl, proved misleading early signs of an offense still looking for anything resembling a rhythm.

Neither lineup was able to mount any kind of a rally against the brilliant display of pitching until the bottom of the sixth.

After a strikeout of Willy Adames, Austin Meadows singled just past a diving Garrett Hampson at second and Tommy Pham echoed it with a grounder that skipped away from a diving Story at short.

Marquez then walked Ji-Man Choi on a borderline pitch but calmly got Brandon Lowe to ground into a double play, ending the inning and the threat.

The Rays made another strong attempt in the seventh after Avisail Garcia began things by reaching second on a ball that glanced off of Ian Desmond’s glove in center field.

He was able to advance on a fly ball to left from Daniel Robertson and Marquez played it safe with cleanup may Kevin Kiermaier, issuing another free pass.

In his biggest encounter of the day, Marquez struck out Mike Zunino. Peralta tried to surprise the Rockies with a bunt to bring in the run, and it almost worked as he was initially ruled safe at first.

But the replay review rightly rewarded the Gold Glove caliber play from Arenado and the fantastic pitching from Marquez, keeping the game a scoreless tie going into the eighth.

Colorado struck out in order in the top of that frame and handed the ball to Scott Oberg in the bottom.

Oberg walked a man but worked an otherwise non-dramatic inning, a far cry from what took place in the ninth.

Robertson greeted him with a single back up the middle and after Kiermaier popped out Zunino came through with the runner moving, singling to put runners on the corners on what might’ve been a double play without the pre-pitch action.

Oberg came back with some of his nastiest stuff, striking out Adames who was trying to lay down a bunt, and getting some help from Ryan McMahon who snagged a hard sinking liner at first for the final out, stranding the winning run at third.

Harrison Musgrave came on in the 10th and got a pair of quick outs before giving way to closer Wade Davis who promptly gave up a single to center for Garcia. He then paid little attention to him, allowing Garcia to swipe second with ease and walked Robertson, again on some borderline calls from home plate umpire Joe West.

Davis began wild against Kiermaier getting a gift from West on a 1-0 call to even the count but still falling behind 3-1. But he beat him with a good cutter and slider combination for a couple of swings and misses to send the game to an 11th inning.

And then it happened. The clouds parted (in a dome!) and somebody finally scored a run.

After being frozen by a pair of breaking pitches, Chris Iannetta leaned into one and hammered it over the wall in center field to give Colorado a 1-0 lead.

Davis stayed in for the bottom of the 11th and got Zunino on a broken-bat grounder to short then gave Rockies fans a scare when Adames lined him up for a drive to right but Raimel Tapia was able to track it down with a nice running catch.

He made it interesting against meadows, running the count full after getting ahead 0-2, but he struck him out with the knuckle-curve to end it and secure a much-needed win for his ball club.

It wasn’t pretty or ideal, but a 3-4 East Coast trip for the Rockies certainly isn’t something worth panicking or even worrying about. Offensive issues clearly need to be ironed out still, and some clean mountain air may help in that regard, but Colorado gutted out a decent road trip behind some masterful pitching and just enough hitting.

Now it’s time to come home.

Final Stats

German Marquez: 7 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 7 K

Mike Dunn: 0.1 IP, 0 H, 0 ER

Scott Oberg: 1.2 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 3 BB, 1 K

Harrison Musgrave: 0.2 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K

Wade Davis: 1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 2 K

What’s Next

The Rockies can finally come home to Denver to make their season debut at Coors Field on Friday. Tyler Anderson is scheduled to make his second start of the season after the off day. He is matched up against Kenta Maeda as the Rox look to renew their rivalry with the Los Angeles Dodgers. First pitch at 2:10 Mountain Time.