MIAMI — Pablo Lopez, so often the model of consistency and somehow something of an elder statesman in this Miami Marlins rotation, was unusually off kilter throughout the first few weeks of June, until he took the mound again Wednesday and got to wash those frustrations away with a 7-4 win.
In three of his previous six outings, Lopez gave up at least four earned runs. In one of those starts, a line drive hit him on the wrist and knocked him out of the game before he could finish five innings. The response to his injury was a start delayed and then a shellacking at the hands of the rival New York Mets when he finally got back on the mound Friday.
It all meant he needed the sort of outing he delivered Wednesday and so did his Marlins, so he quietly pumped his fist when he walked back to the clubhouse for good at the end of the seventh inning. The crafty starting pitcher put together his best outing in more than a month to shut down the Colorado Rockies and clinch a series victory in Miami.
