Rox perk up late, but skid reaches 6 games

PHOENIX -- Rockies right-hander Germán Márquez joked that he is going to “hang out with my bed” after the second-heaviest innings load in the National League during the first half, which ended with a helping of frustration Sunday afternoon.

Marquez pitched better than his line -- five runs (four earned) and six hits in six innings -- in the Rockies’ sixth straight loss, 5-3 to the D-backs, who swept the three games at Chase Field.

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By dropping 11 of their last 15, the Rockies have dropped below .500 (44-45) for the first time since May 28. The goal of making a third straight postseason still looms, even though the Rockies are fourth in the National League West and 14 1/2 games behind the first-place Dodgers (but right with the 46-45 D-backs and 45-45 Padres). They’re 2 1/2 games back in the current Wild Card standings, which have a veritable gaggle of teams harboring hope.

Colorado has to overcome history -- it has never made the postseason after reaching the break with a losing record.

In a sense, Marquez’s solid performance not being rewarded encapsulates the disjointed baseball the Rockies are playing.

After mostly poor pitching during the last homestand, the Rockies came to Arizona -- where they had won a club-record six straight games -- hoping for better. Antonio Senzatela struggled Friday in an 8-0 loss, but Jon Gray had a decent effort Saturday in a 4-2 loss.

Marquez’s day was undone by a hanging slider that Nick Ahmed sent to left-center for a two-run homer and 5-0 lead in the sixth.

“My stuff was good today -- fastball command was good, my curveball was sharp, the break was good,” Marquez said. “One bad pitch.”

But poor offense -- no hits in six innings against D-backs rookie starter Alex Young and no runs until Chris Iannetta’s two-run homer in the eighth -- and shoddy defense hurt. Trevor Story broke up the no-hit bid with an infield single to third base off reliever Yoshihisa Hirano to start the seventh, and he hit a leadoff shot in the ninth to bring the Rockies within two runs.

Marquez’s third-inning leadoff strikeout of Young -- one of his five to improve his total to 125 (eighth in the NL) -- was negated when catcher Tony Wolters couldn’t block what was ruled a wild pitch. A Wolters passed ball and an Eduardo Escobar double, on a hard bouncer that first baseman Daniel Murphy couldn’t handle, accounted for a run.

“I should have made it,” Murphy said.

In the sixth, All-Star right fielder Charlie Blackmon made two poor throws that allowed an extra base and kept the pressure on Marquez, who eventually served up Ahmed’s home run. The homer was the 17th off Marquez in 20 starts, after he gave up 24 in 33 starts last year.

With the Rockies’ best pitcher of 2018, lefty Kyle Freeland, having spent much of the first half at Triple-A Albuquerque after a poor start, Marquez (8-4) and Gray (9-6) have been the team’s most consistent pitchers. Marquez’s 127 1/3 innings pitched trail only the Nationals’ Max Scherzer’s 129 1/3 in the NL. His 4.45 ERA is high for someone who has pitched that much, but the record and innings load indicate he can shake off bad happenings. Soft-contact hits, especially at Coors Field, have been frequent. Sunday, he simply had no help.

“Unfortunately, as an offense, we made him thread the needle right there, but he threw the ball really well,” Murphy said.

As part of overcoming the recent doldrums, the Rockies will need more efforts like Sunday’s from Marquez and similar work from the rest of the starters. After leading the NL in starter innings pitched last year, the Rockies enter the break seventh.

“It’s a good break,” Marquez said. “Take it easy, get some rest and get ready for the second half.”