Thanks to a complete performance from the offense, the Colorado Rockies dismantled the San Diego Padres Friday night at Coors Field, 12-2.
The victory improved the Rockies record to 18-20 this season and 6-9 against teams in the National League West.
Ahead are takeaways from the victory.
Rockies offense stays hot
The Rockies entered Friday’s ballgame boasting the highest scoring offense in the game so far in May.
That trend continued versus the Padres with the Rockies collecting 12 runs on the night. Friday’s performance was a group effort, as multiple hitters within the Rockies lineup contributed to the victory.
Every starter recorded at least one hit for Colorado with Nolan Arenado, Trevor Story, Daniel Murphy and German Marquez accounting for 10 of the Rockies’ 12 runs.
Following Friday’s victory, the Rockies are averaging 8.63 runs per game in the month of May.
German Marquez is a two-way player
German Marquez showed off his versatility Friday night.
Alongside a solid effort on the mound, Marquez made his presence felt in the batter box. Typically, pitchers are considered to be near automatic out in a lineup, but that is certainly not the case with Marquez.
With the bases juiced in the fourth inning, Marquez worked a hitters count against Eric Lauer, going up 2-0. Lauer then grooved a 92 mile per hour fastball over the heart of the plate that Marquez throttled to deep center field, scoring three runs to establish a 6-0 lead for Colorado.
Marquez led the team in RBI’s Friday and is also the league leader amongst pitchers with five this season.
Marquez became the 15th pitcher in Rockies’ history with three or more RBI’s in a game and is the first since Antonio Senzatela did it in the 2017 season.
Besides a fantastic performance at the dish, Marquez was sharp on the mound despite dealing with a hefty amount of traffic on the basepaths. He hurled 5.2 innings, allowing two runs on 10 hits while striking out seven.
Trevor Story heating up
Trevor Story found himself in the midst of a slump entering the series versus San Diego.
Story struggled the first two series of the homestand, compiling a .238 batting average through his first 21 at-bats.
Two of his five hits came in Thursday’s victory and Story carried momentum over Friday night by blasting a no-doubt home run in the bottom of the third inning to get the scoring started for the Rockies.
Here's a good Story to start your weekend.
Volume 4, Chapter 9 #StoryTime 📚 pic.twitter.com/IzWAGGsm3W
— Colorado Rockies (@Rockies) May 11, 2019
Story collected another two hits throughout the game and is now 5-for-9 in his last two games.
Umpires continue to stir up controversy
With runners on the corners in the bottom half of the fourth inning, infielder Garrett Hampson squared up in an attempt to lay down a bunt.
Hampson wound up getting drilled on the hand and after a quick chat between manager Bud Black and the umpire crew, he was awarded first base in accordance with the hit by pitch, reversing the initial call of a foul ball.
Padres’ Manager Andy Green had doubts about the call and deliberated with the umpires who ultimately wound up restoring the original call, sending Hampson back to the batter’s box.
Disgruntled with the reversal, Black re-engaged the umpires, seeking some sort of logical explanation as to why a call that had already been reversed once was flipped a second time. Black was unable to sway the umpires and Hampson wound up back in the batter’s box.
Hampson’s at-bat resulted in a walk, so the roughly five minutes of arguing between each teams’ managers and the umpire crew was all for naught.
This HBP summit during #Padres–#Rockies got old. And we will get no in-stadium announcement from the umpires. Garrett Hampson was hit on the hand while trying to bunt. First it was a foul ball, then he was awarded first base. Then the base was taken away, and now he's batting.
— Thomas Harding (@harding_at_mlb) May 11, 2019