German Marquez struck out the first eight batters he faced Wednesday night at Coors Field.
And Marquez, and the Rockies, were just getting started.
By the time their 14-0 victory over the Phillies was complete, strikeouts, history, four home runs and mounting playoff expectations had converged to create a perfect baseball storm in LoDo.
When Arizona beat the Dodgers 7-2 later in the night, the Rockies found themselves alone in first place in the National League West with a half-game lead over Los Angeles. The Dodgers, who are off on Thursday, have three games remaining at rival San Francisco, beginning Friday. The Rockies host the Phillies on Thursday afternoon, then host Washington for three games beginning Friday to close out their regular season.
Marquez, a 23-year-old right-hander, not only set a franchise record for strikeouts to begin a game, he tied a modern-day major-league record. What’s more, by the time Marquez’s seven scoreless innings were in the books and he got a bear hug from manager Bud Black, he had fanned 11, setting a franchise record for strikeouts in a season with 221. Right-hander Ubaldo Jimenez held the old record of 214, set in 2010. Jimenez finished third in the NL Cy Young Award voting that season.
“German came out hot and he was spinning the (crud) out of his curveball,” catcher Tony Wolters said. “He did a great job and mixed his pitches. His fastball was good tonight, too. He didn’t take his foot off the gas peddle, that’s for sure.”
Meanwhile, players in the home dugout, as well as the 35,181 fans in attendance, had only to look at the manual scoreboard in right field to see that Milwaukee beat St. Louis 2-1, moving the Rockies 1 ½ games in front of the Cardinals for the National League’s second wild-card spot. The Cardinals have just three games remaining.
The Rockies, winners of six straight and searching for their first division title, are playing their best baseball of the season, especially at Coors Field, where they are 33-13 since June 19. Their 14-0 margin of victory Wednesday was the second-largest in a shutout in franchise history (behind a 16-0 shellacking of San Diego on Sept. 16, 2017).
While Marquez (14-10, 3.76 ERA) stole the spotlight Wednesday night, Colorado’s offense pounded Philadelphia pitching for the third consecutive game, banging out 16 hits.
Colorado hit three home runs in its seven-run fifth inning to take a 9-0 lead. The two-out onslaught began with David Dahl’s 412-foot autumn moon shot to center, his third home run in three games. After a Nolan Arenado single, Trevor Story rocketed a 465-foot home run to left, his 34th of the season. After a Carlos Gonzalez hustle double, Ian Desmond smacked a two-run homer 438 feet, his 21st of the season.
Reserve catcher Drew Butera added a two-run homer in the ninth.
Marquez entered the night with 210 strikeouts, tied with Pedro Astacio (1999) for second in franchise history. But Marquez quickly made history, striking out, in order: Cesar Hernandez, Carlos Santana, Odubel Herrera, Rhys Hoskins, Roman Quinn and Dylan Cozens.
Record-breaker No. 215, coming against Quinn, was a 84 mph curveball on a 1-2 count.
Marquez’s eight strikeouts to open a game placed him in the company of Houston’s Jim Deshaies, who did it on Sept. 23, 1986, vs. the Dodgers, and the Mets’ Jacob deGrom, who set down the first eight Marlins he faced on Sept. 15, 2014.
“I didn’t know about eight (straight) as a record,” Marquez said. “I knew I had to get five to get the (season) record, but I didn’t go into the game looking for that.”
Aggressiveness, and a nasty curveball, were the keys to Marquez’s success.
“I thought I really executed my plan, I thought, as good as I can,” he said. “I just went in with the mindset to command my pitches and attack. A lot of times it doesn’t work perfectly, but tonight it was close to that.
“I believe the key was the aggressiveness when I was throwing the curve. It was biting maybe a little bit more than usual, but the aggressiveness was the key.”
Phillies pitcher Nick Pivetta finally ended Marquez’s streak with two outs in the third inning with a groundball on which Marquez committed an error. Marquez, however, struck out Santana to end the third for his ninth strikeout of the game.
Marquez finished his performance allowing only three hits and walking none. It was his 12th consecutive quality start, topped only in franchise history by Jimenez’s 15 in 2009-10.
“It’s tremendous to see a guy work so diligently, and be a great student, and put these teachings into play, between the lines,” Black said. “Not only during the games that he plays, but the side work and the video sessions … It’s been fabulous to watch. I’m very proud of him.”
National League playoff race
National League West: The Rockies (88-70) beat the Phillies (78-80) on Wednesday night and moved a half-game in front of the Dodgers (88-71). The Dodgers lost 7-2 at Arizona (81-78).
NL wild card: The Rockies increased their lead to 1 ½ games over the Cardinals (87-72) for the second wild-card spot. St. Louis lost 2-1 to the Brewers (92-67) on Wednesday night. The Brewers hold a 3½-game lead over the Rockies for the top wild-card spot. Milwaukee trails the Cubs (92-66) by a half-game in the NL Central. The Cubs beat the Pirates 7-6 in 10 innings.
Remaining schedules:
Rockies — (4 games) 1 vs. Phillies; 3 vs. Nationals.
Dodgers — (3) 3 at Giants.
Cardinals — (3) 3 at Cubs.
Brewers — (3) 3 vs. Tigers.
Cubs — (4) 1 vs. Pirates; 3 vs. Cardinals.
— Patrick Saunders, The Denver Post
