The Colorado Rockies are back into the win column after playing one of the more complete games of their season, a 5-0 shutout over the Pittsburgh Pirates in their house by the rivers.
German Marquez was absolutely brilliant as he has been so often in 2019. He gave up just three hits, only one technically an extra-base hit on a missed dive by David Dahl in left that led to a double.
Dahl also made two diving catches in the game.
But Marquez was unbeatable in this one.
He carved up the Pirates lineup, striking out seven and walking just one in a game that he controlled from beginning to end, even contributing to the offensive effort.
For the second time this season, when his club desperately needed to stop the bleeding and start some new momentum, their 24-year-old ace took the mound with every intention of sending a message. And he did just that.
The Rockies scored the first run of the game in the second inning in unusual fashion.
Daniel Murphy led the inning off with a double to right and he moved up on an Ian Desmond grounder to the right side. Tony Wolters pulled another to that side and Josh Bell came up with it and fired home, getting Murphy caught in a rundown.
But a throw from catcher Francisco Cervelli glanced off of Murphy’s helmet and skipped away, allowing him to score.
They added a far more traditional run in the third when Trevor Story launched a high fly ball to left that barely left the park for his 11th home run of the season.
The offense kept the momentum going with another pair of runs in the top of the fourth.
After Murphy flew out, Desmond and Wolters drew walks and moved up on a clean sac bunt from Marquez.
Charlie Blackmon rewarded their efforts by coming through with a two-out triple, rocketing a line drive on a first pitch fastball for his league-leading fifth three-bagger of the year.
Colorado made it 5-0 in the eighth inning thanks to singles from Ryan McMahon, Desmond, and of course Marquez who capped off his incredible night with a bit of offense to back up his pitching.
He went on to finish off the eighth in relatively quick order before handing the baseball to Carlos Estevez having done the heavy lifting.
Estevez worked around a one-out walk to finish off the shutout and complete the win, snapping the losing streak.
