Rockies offense gets hot against Kuhl

With Carlos Gonzalez mired in a slump, and the Colorado Rockies offense in a general malaise, prospect outfielder Raimel Tapia — known for his impressive contact skills — was given a start by Bud Black and it paid off in a big way. The rookie collected four hits in his four at-bats and contributed to four of Colorado’s five runs (scoring three of them) giving much-needed life to an offense that was starting to look a bit like Swiss cheese. (Too many holes.)

In the second inning, Ian Desmond put the Rockies on the board with his fourth home run of the season, a solo shot on a line drive that just cleared the left-field fence.

Colorado got a pair of insurance runs in the top of the fifth, starting with a four-pitch walk to Desmond and an infield hit by Tapia, his second base hit of the game. Trevor Story got in a quick 0-2 hole but adjusted to the situation, stayed with a tough slider and took it off the dirt, pulling to through the left side of the infield and scoring Desmond.

With runners on first and third, and one out, Marquez came to the plate and was tasked with bunting Story over but when an 0-1 pitch glanced off the bat and nailed the Rockies pitcher on his back leg when he failed to bail on the attempt, it seemed like the play might be taken off. It wasn’t, and despite still looking physically shaken from the contact, Marquez hung in on another tough high and inside pitch to get the bunt down. Tapia came flying in from third base, forcing a quick decision from first baseman Josh Bell. Bell made a try for the spectacular play at home but hurried through the transfer making no play at all.

That ended up being an important play as no more runs were scored in the inning.

Marquez continued to show mental toughness through the next half-frame. He gave up a single to Andrew McCutchen and then plunked Francisco Cervelli on a sinker that just ran too far inside. Cervelli took exception and the benches even cleared for a moment before everyone settled down, though nobody threw and punches or anything like that.

The Rockies rookie pitcher (no the other one … no the other, other one) didn’t get rattled (sound familiar) and got a lineout and a groundout without allowing a run.

Pittsburgh would finally get to Marquez in the sixth though as he seemed to run out of gas, giving up a double to Adam Frazier and a single to Josh Harrison before having to leave the game without recording an out in the inning. With the tying run at the plate, the Rockies turned to a reliever they know will never let them down; Chris Rusin.

Rusin immediately induced a double play which did allow the first run for the Pirates to score but also killed the rally. He finished out the frame with no further damage, preserving Marquez’ final line and lowering his own ERA to 2.25.

Speaking of that final line: 5 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 2 K. He threw 53 of his 82 pitches for strikes.

Despite that being something the Rockies would have made sacrifices to ancient gods to see in their past, it might not be quite enough to keep German Marquez in the starting rotation. On the flip side, he looks like he could be a blessing upon the bullpen.

The Rockies got another run in the seventh when Tapia collected his third hit of the game, a double down the left field line. He came in to score on a pinch-hit single from Alexi Amarista. While many if not most have come to know and recognize Tapia’s hitting skills, his ability to find home plate once he gets on base is still a bit underrated. He scored twice in this one, the Desmond home run the only run he did not contribute to. Desmond and Tapia scored all four runs for Colorado.

Adam Ottavino came on the in seventh and got wild after striking out McCutchen on a wicked slider. He surrendered a single to Cervelli and hit Max Moroff on his back foot before walking David Freese and giving way to Jake McGee.

McGee continues to be absolutely lights out for the 2017 Colorado Rockies. He induced a weak popout from Frazier and then blew three straight fastballs by the Pirates best player this season, Josh Harrison, at 96, 96, and 97 mph. The veteran stayed in through the eighth inning and got three quick outs around walking a batter. He lowered his ERA to a microscopic 1.33.

Tapia led off the top of the ninth with an infield single, his speed clearly in the mind of the shortstop Moroff. He moved to second on a Story single and over to third on a sac bunt from Wolters. Tapia came on in to score on another sac fly, this time beating out a close play on a throw in shallow left from John Jaso, scoring the Rockies fifth run, his third time crossing home plate. The pinch-hit RBI from Pat Valaika was also the third time in the game the Rockies drove in a run from the ninth spot.

Greg Holland finished off the game despite it not being a save situation with that last run coming in. So he didn’t get number 24, but he did continue his streak of coming into games and slamming the door shut, departing the field to a Rockies win.

Colorado moved to 42-26 and snapped a three-game losing streak.