Rockies rookie right-hander German Marquez had everything working Sunday at
His fastball hit 96 mph, his curveball tied up Arizona hitters, and he even unleashed a few choice changeups. All of that worked just fine for his first five innings, when he gave up just a single run.
But the Diamondbacks squared up Marquez in the sixth inning, expanding their lead to 4-1 en route to a 5-1 victory. Ketel Marte led off the sixth with a solo homer to left, and Brandon Drury added a two-run homer to right.
“German threw the ball with good velocity and command, with the exception of the home run to (Brandon Drury),” manager Bud Black said. “But good curveball. A few changeups, a few sliders. He did his thing, but I’m sure he’d want to have that homer back.”
It was Marquez’s fifth start against Arizona this season, and he’s now 0-1 with a 3.94 ERA against the Diamondbacks. He struck out nine Sunday (including six looking), his second-highest total of his career.
“Those are just things that are going to happen in baseball,” Marquez said of the two critical home runs. “I just need to focus on my next start.”
Roster shuffle. Black altered his lineup Sunday, but it didn’t pay off.
Black, wanting to give third baseman a breather, dropped leadoff hitter into the No. 3 hole and moved from the No. 2 spot into the leadoff position. The biggest surprise was moving the slumping up to second in the order.
Ian Desmond and also were out of the starting lineup, though Desmond pinch hit.
“A few of our guys aren’t starting, but we shuffled some guys around,” Black said before the game. “Hopefully that will give us a jump start today. Where we put those guys today, we felt it was the best spot for all eight of them, plus German Marquez.”
Batting third for the second time this season, Blackmon went 2-for-3 with an RBI and a walk. LeMahieu extended his hitting streak to 11 games with a single in the fifth.
Gonzalez went 0-for-2 with two walks and two strikeouts. He’s hitting .241 with eight homers and only 43 RBIs.
Domination. The Diamondbacks extended their winning streak to 10 games, their second-longest winning streak in franchise history, topped only by a 12-game streak from June 18-30, 2003.
During its sweep of the Rockies, Arizona’s three starters posted a combined 1.10 ERA and held the Rockies to a .151 batting average. The rotation allowed three hits or fewer in each of the three games, making the D-backs first team to ever accomplish that at Coors Field in a single season.
Looking ahead …
Giants RHP Chris Stratton (2-3, 3.82 ERA) at Rockies RHP Chad Bettis (0-2, 4.88 ERA), 1:10 p.m. Monday, AT&T SportsNet; 850 AM
Bettis is coming off a shaky start against Detroit in which he gave up five runs on seven hits over five innings. He has failed to post a victory in his first four starts since coming back from testicular cancer. He is 0-0 with a 3.79 ERA in three starts at this season. Stratton was an emergency plug-in for the Giants’ rotation, even though he posted a 5.11 ERA in 15 starts for Triple-A Sacramento.But he has fared well in the majors. Over his last three starts, he has struck out 10 batters twice and had a stretch of 12⅔ innings of shutout baseball.
Tuesday: Giants LHP Ty Blach (8-11, 4.68 ERA) at Rockies TBA, 6:40 p.m., AT&T SportsNet
Wednesday: Giants RHP Johnny Cueto (6-7, 4.54) at Rockies LHP Kyle Freeland (11-9, 3.89), 6:40 p.m., AT&T SportsNet
Thursday: Rockies RHP Jon Gray (6-4, 4.62) at Dodgers RHP Yu Darvish (8-11, 4.09), 8:10 p.m., AT&T SportsNet
