Colorado’s famished road offense feasted on the Reds’ bullpen and starter German Marquez continued his revival.
That’s the cliff notes version of the Rockies’ 8-4 win over Cincinnati in the first game of a doubleheader on Sunday afternoon at Great American Ballpark.
Reds rookie starter Nick Lodolo ruled the Rockies early on, but Colorado scored eight runs in innings seven through nine to pocket a rare road victory.
Marquez’s only two big mistakes came against right fielder Nick Friedl, who hit solo home runs in the fourth and sixth innings. Marquez gave up three hits, struck out four, and walked three in his seven innings. He induced nine groundball outs.
Marquez, erratic for much of the season, continues to sharpen up. He has a 3.93 ERA over his last nine starts. He’s given up just two runs on four hits over his last two starts.
Rookie Michael Toglia’s bloop double behind down the right-field line in the eighth inning off Fernando Cruz drove in Brendan Rodgers for a 5-4 lead in what turned out to be the deciding run.
Colorado added three runs in the ninth, the key at-bat a two-run homer by C.J. Cron off right-hander Art Warren, Cron’s 25th homer of the season. The Rockies needed the insurance because Jonathan India hit a two-run homer off Carlos Estevez in the eighth, cutting the lead to 5-4.
Charlie Blackmon’s clutch pinch-hit single in the seventh put the Rockies ahead, 4-2, giving them the lead for the first time in the game.
Cincy right-hander Joel Kuhnel plunked C.J. Cron to open the key seventh inning, and gave up singles to Elehuris Montero and Michael Toglia to load the bases. Kuhnel walked Sean Bouchard to force in a run and punch his ticket out of the game.
Buck Farmer struck out Garrett Hampson before Blackmon entered as a pinch hitter, delivering a two-run single to right field.
Blackmon, who entered the game ranked third in the National League in hitting with runners in scoring position, is now batting .345 (39-for-111) in the clutch.
Lodolo, the seventh overall pick of the 2019 draft, dominated the Rockies for six shutout innings and Cincy led 2-0 when he left the game. The Rockies, facing Lodolo for the first time, struck out nine times and managed just two hits — a one-out double by Garrett Hampson in the third and a one out-single by Brian Serven in the sixth.
Iglesias injured
Shortstop Jose Iglesias injured his hand during an at-bat during the fourth inning and was removed from the game. Manager Bud Black told AT&T SportsNet that Iglesias was being evaluated and would not be available for the second game of the doubleheader.
Iglesias entered the game with a .302 batting average, ranking seventh in the National League. He was third in the majors with a .336 road batting average and ranked sixth with a .357 average with runners in scoring position.
