SO, SO, SO, SO, SO, SO, SO, SO
That’s eight strikeouts in a row. Opposing pitcher Nick Pivetta actually broke the string, reaching on Marquez’s error, but after a walk Marquez struck out his ninth batter in three innings. He joins an underrated pitcher named Don Wilson as the only pitchers since 1961 to start a game with three no-hit innings and nine strikeouts, and he tied a modern record with eight straight K’s to start a game.
It was all Rockies after that as they cruised to a 14-0 win for the sixth straight victory. They scored seven runs in the fifth inning as they hit three home runs — including David Dahl slugging his third in as many nights, with each one coming with two strikes.
But the star of the game was Marquez, who finished with 11 K’s over seven innings. He’s been doing this the entire second half. In 13 starts, he’s 6-2 with a 2.55 ERA, 115 strikeouts and just 18 walks in 88 ⅓ innings, and just five home runs allowed.
A year ago, Marquez was primarily a fastball/curveball guy, mixing in a few changeups and mediocre sliders. His big surge has come with the refinement of the slider, which he’s thrown about 15 percent of the time (and slightly more often in the second half). Batters are hitting .147 against his slider and .157 against his curve, giving him two wipeout pitches for strikeouts.
After the Dodgers lost 7-2 to the Diamondbacks, the Rockies moved a half-game ahead of the Dodgers and they’re 1 ½ games ahead of the Cardinals. They may not lose again this season, given they have one more game against the Phillies and then three against the Nationals (and Max Scherzer already has been scratched from a possible Sunday start). If all this feels familiar, you may recall the Rocktober run of 2007, when the Rockies won 13 of their final 14, won a tiebreaker game against the Padres, then swept the Division Series and NLCS before finally getting swept by the Red Sox in the World Series — an incredible run of 21 wins in 22 games.
With Marquez, Kyle Freeland (who should finish fourth in the Cy Young voting) and Jon Gray (who can be as good as anybody when he’s on), the Rockies have a 1-2-3 top of the rotation that matches up with any team in the NL. They haven’t clinched a playoff spot just yet, but I can’t foresee a collapse these final four games. The Rockies are headed to the playoffs. Will it be as the surprise champs of the NL West?
Brewers clinch, sweep Cardinals: The Brewers beat the Cardinals 2-1 as Jhoulys Chacin pitched five solid frames and four relievers threw the final four scoreless innings. The game will be remembered — at least by bitter Cardinals fans — for an epic pinch-running blunder:
One Cardinals fans summed it up this way:
Of course, it wasn’t Garcia’s fault the Cardinals played so poorly the first two games of the series or could only knock out two hits in this game. Kolten Wong got picked off first base on Wednesday. Cardinals pitchers, apparently afraid to challenge Christian Yelich, walked him five times. Guess who scored both Brewers runs? Still, the rookie Garcia was so distraught after the loss he turned down requests to speak to the media after the game.
While MVP favorite Yelich knocked in eight runs and scored four in the series, Craig Counsell kept Matt Carpenter, the Cardinals’ best hitter, in check with some creative usage. Carpenter batted 13 times in the series and eight of those plate appearances came against left-handers (including one against Dan Jennings, who started Monday and faced only Carpenter before being removed). Carpenter did reach base five times, but had just one hit, one RBI and one run. His teammates didn’t pick him when he did get on.
Cubs survive a Bartman play, win in 10: The Cubs remained a half-game up on the Brewers with a 7-6 win over the Pirates, but that was only after blowing a 6-4 lead in the top of the ninth. With a runner on, Francisco Cervelli lofted a foul pop that Anthony Rizzo reached around the net behind home plate to grab — only to have a fan get in his way. Cervelli then doubled, and with two outs Starling Marte smacked a line drive off Rizzo’s glove for a game-tying two-run double.
Imagine if that play had knocked the Cubs out of first place? Instead, Albert Almora walked if off:
Cy deGrom: It’s no surprise that the Mets’ current Twitter banner is three photos of Jacob deGrom. He’s earned them all. He finished off a remarkable campaign with eight scoreless innings against the Braves — all their regulars played, by the way — with 10 strikeouts and two hits. He even finished over .500 as his record improved to 10-9. Most impressively, he lowered his ERA to 1.70. As great as Max Scherzer and Aaron Nola were, deGrom is the clear favorite for the Cy Young Award:
Here’s deGrom after the game:
You can come up with all sorts of impressive numbers. He’s held opponents to three runs or fewer in 28 straight starts — something nobody else has ever done. As Mark Simon pointed out, the last four pitchers with an ERA as low as 1.70 and at least 269 strikeouts were Dwight Gooden in 1985, Bob Gibson and Luis Tiant in 1968 and Walter Johnson in 1912. He should join Gooden, R.A. Dickey and three-time winner Tom Seaver as Mets Cy Young winners.
Your Willians Astudillo note of the night: You gotta love this guy:
So long, Bryce? The Nationals played their final home game — which means Bryce Harper may have played his final home game in a Nationals uniform. He received a standing ovation in his first at-bat from a pretty sparse late afternoon crowd in what would be a 9-3 win over the Marlins. Harper went 0-for-4 and, in a preview of the future, Victor Robles went 4-for-5 with five RBIs. It certainly possible the Nationals will be content to go with an outfield of Juan Soto, Robles and Adam Eaton next year, with Michael Taylor as a backup, and use Harper money to strengthen the pitching staff.
Eddie Matz has the report from D.C. on what the game meant to Harper.
Powered by WPeMatico
