The Colorado Rockies were your NL West leaders… for a few hours, at least.
After their four-game sweep of the Atlanta Braves, capped with a 4-2 victory on Sunday afternoon, the Rockies were tied with the Arizona Diamondbacks for a lead of the division until Arizona mounted a ninth-inning comeback over the Padres. The Rockies trail the Diamondbacks by only a half-game.
Colorado’s been on a tear lately, winners of 8-of-9 games, including their assault of Atlanta this weekend, which was the first-ever four-game sweep by Colorado in Atlanta.
For the Rockies, the name of the game has been pitching well. German Marquez enjoyed his fifth straight quality start, going 7.0 innings while giving up five hits and two runs while striking out five and walking one.
One of Marquez’s worst innings came in the first; Atlanta’s Freddie Freeman doubled and Nick Markakis walked before Johan Comargo singled to score Freeman and take the 1-0 advantage.
That lead was short-lived, though, as Trevor Story hit a one-run home run in the top of the second to tie it up 1-1.
Then, in the third inning, the Rockies were rolling with two outs yet again. First, DJ LeMahieu hit a solo homer. Then, David Dahl doubled and Nolan Arenado came through to hit him home; 3-1 Colorado mid-way through three.
In the sixth inning, Marquez was a little shaky. Freeman hit a single and a wild pitch moved him up to second. Then, Comargo hit a single of his own to send Freeman across the plate and bring the game closer, at 3-2.
Marquez worked through seven innings, when Adam Ottavino came in and worked a 1-2-3 inning. In the top of the ninth, Colorado came through yet again to score in the final frame of the game when Ryan McMahon singled and advanced to second base on a balk. Then, Carlos Gonzalez singled to hit him home and the Rockies pushed their lead to 4-2.
Wade Davis was again nails, he had three strikeouts in the ninth with a single given up in between.
At 68-56, the Rockies are now tied for the lead with the Arizona Diamondbacks. So, pending on Arizona’s game tonight versus the San Diego Padres, Colorado may be in first alone by the end of the day.
The Rockies have played 46 consecutive games against teams with .500 or better records, which is the longest streak in MLB history.
https://twitter.com/ESPNStatsInfo/status/1031275831958663170
That has now come to an end, a they host the Padres in a three-game set starting Tuesday.