Rockies drop rubber match on bad day for Marquez

DENVER -The Colorado Rockies couldn’t recover from an off-day out of their starting pitcher, falling 8-5 in the rubber match at home against the Miami Marlins.

After an hour-and-a-half weather delay, the Marlins jumped all over German Marquez in the first inning, starting with the very first pitch of the game that Derek Dietrich—who has been hot all series—ripped down the left-field line for a double. Brian Anderson followed that with a groundball single that snuck just by Trevor Story at short.

The deliverer of yesterday’s dagger, J.T. Realmuto, drove in the first run of the game on a line drive double to centerfield and two more were plated when Justin Bour hit a hard grounder back up the middle to give the Marlins a 3-0 lead before the Rockies had recorded an out.

It looked like the inning might then get really out of hand when Story committed an error in the next at-bat, giving Miami runners at first and second with still nobody out. But Marquez settled for a moment and got a pair of strikeouts and a groundout to end the frame with no further damage.

The Rockies got right back in it in the bottom of the first, though, thanks to a DJ LeMahieu walk and Nolan Arenado’s fifth home run in the last six game, pulling his club to within one.

Dietrich kept up his reign of terror in Denver by smashing his 11th homer of the season to lead off the second; a high shot over the wall in right-center field.

Marquez worked through the rest of the inning and was able to escape damage again after allowing a couple of singles in the third.

With their pitcher finally putting up a blank frame, the Rockies offense was able to tie the game at four runs apiece thanks to singles from DJ LeMahieu, Charlie Blackmon, and the clutch two-out RBI hit from Story.

But Marquez just couldn’t find it, running into some bad luck in the fourth when Realmuto reached on an error and Bour walked on a pitch well inside the strike zone. After getting Starlin Castro to nearly hit into a double play, the Rox settling for one out at second, Marquez lost a nine-pitch battle to JT Riddle whose emergency swing sent a sinking liner just by Arenado at third for an RBI double.

Manager Bud Black decided that was it for Marquez and went to Chris Rusin who inherited a tough, second-and-third-with-one-out situation. Rusin got a couple of soft groundouts the first of which brought in another run to give the Marlins a 6-4 lead, but he did his job in stopping the bleeding and keeping the game in touch.

Again the Rockies answered in the next half-inning when Gerardo Parra hit his second solo home run in as many games, blasting one into the Colorado bullpen in right-center.

Rusin stayed on for the fifth and recorded the first 1-2-3 inning for the Rockies in the game, striking out two. He made it two in a row, getting three soft groundouts in the sixth, looking for a moment like the pitcher who was one of the best relievers in baseball last season.

The Marlins were able to get to Jake McGee in the seventh on a single from Yadiel Rivera, a triple from Lewis Brinson, and Dietrich’s fourth hit of the day, a single through the left side, to give Miami an 8-5 lead. Adam Ottavino came on an induced a double play to end the inning. He proceeded to the eight

Final Stats:

German Marquez: 3.1 IP, 9 H, 6 R, 5 ER, 3 BB, 6 K

Chris Rusin: 2.2 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 2 K

Jake McGee: 0.1 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 0 K

Adam Ottavino: 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K

DJ LeMahieu: 1-for-3, 2 R

Nolan Arenado: 1-for-4, 1 R, 2 RBI HR (18)

Charlie Blackmon: 1-for-4m 1 R

Gerardo Parra: 1-for-3, 1 R, 1 RBI

What’s Next:

After an off day, the Rockies begin a road divisional battle with the San Francisco Giants on Tuesday night. Chad Bettis faces off with Derek Holland in Game 1. First pitch at 8:15 Mountain Time.