MIAMI — The Rockies opened the 2019 season with works of pitching art by starters and .
Saturday night it was more like paint by numbers — and it wasn’t pretty. Miami ripped Rockies pitching for 16 hits, the third-most ever allowed by Colorado at Miami, en route to a 7-3 win at usually pitcher-friendly Marlins Park.
Colorado received bad news after the game when it learned that first baseman Daniel Murphy has a fractured left index finger and will have to go on the injured list. There is no timetable for his return.
Colorado starter lacking fastball command, was tagged for five runs in five innings, and reliever DJ Johnson was charged with two runs in just one-third of an inning.
Shortstop Miguel Rojas led Miami’s hit parade, batting 3-for-5 with three RBIs, and the Marlins took advantage when they had their chances, batting 7-for-14 with runners in scoring position.
Inconsistency was Anderson’s trademark last season, when he finished 7-9 with a 4.55 ERA and served up 30 home runs, tied for most in the National League. The left-hander was hit-and-miss in the Cactus League, too, posting a 7.71 ERA with a .273 batting average against.
The trend continued Saturday night. The Marlins raked Anderson for five runs on nine hits, and he needed 85 pitches to get through his five frames. Of the five runs Anderson surrendered, four of them came with two outs.
In the second inning, with a run already in, Anderson gave up a two-out single to opposing pitcher Pablo Lopez, which led to an RBI double by Rojas.
“Tyler has been around the game long enough to know what happened tonight with two outs,” manager Bud Black said. “He’s a smart guy. He’s a bright guy. No matter who you are — and I had Greg Maddux at 42 years old — you always learn.
“Tonight, Tyler got to two out and couldn’t get the pitcher. He (left) the ball up over the plate, and the big blow was the first-pitch fastball to Rojas for the double.”
Miami ambushed the left-hander in a three-run fourth inning, the big hit a sharp, two-run, two-out, RBI double to left by Rojas. Rosell Herrera then drove in Rojas with a single.
Anderson has been struggling on the road, going 0-4 with an 8.33 ERA over his last six road starts, dating back to last season. Colorado is 0-6 in those games.
Lopez, just 23, outpitched Anderson, striking out a career-high seven batters over his 5⅓ innings. An untimely balk cost the rookie in Colorado’s two-run third, helping set up an RBI single by and a sacrifice fly by .
“(Lopez) has good stuff, and he has a good feel for three different pitches,” Rockies rookie second baseman Garrett Hampson said. “He’s able to make the fastball move two different ways as well. He’s a good pitcher, and he’s a tough at-bat.”
Colorado trimmed the Marlins’ lead to 5-3 in the sixth, stringing together singles by , and an RBI single by . Arenado extended his hitting streak to 12 games, dating to last season.
In the seventh, with Dahl perched on third after scorching a two-out triple past center fielder Lewis Brinson, Arenado had an opportunity for a big hit. But right-handed reliever Sergio Romo, a pitcher Arenado’s hit hard in the past, got Arenado to fly out to center.
After winning the first two games of the set Thursday and Friday, the Rockies enter Sunday afternoon’s game searching for their first series victory at Marlins Park since taking two of three games in 2013. Colorado has just one series victory in Miami since Marlins Park opened in 2012.
