The Arizona Diamondbacks defeated the Colorado Rockies at Chase Field Sunday afternoon, 5-3, to solidify a series sweep.
The Rockies’ struggles at the plate continued as the club failed to record a hit through six innings. Diamondbacks’ starter Alex Young made the Rockies look silly in his six innings of work to push Arizona to victory.
Ahead are takeaways from the Rockies’ defeat.
Alex Young dominates
Diamondbacks’ rookie pitcher Alex Young carved up the Rockies’ lineup in his third career start.
Young hurled six hitless innings before getting yanked from the game in favor of Arizona’s bullpen. Young kept the Rockies’ offense off-balance throughout the entirety of his outing, walking just one batter and preventing Colorado from settling in at the dish.
Young only logged three-strikeouts but was masterful with his command, painting the corners of the strike zone with pinpoint accuracy. Young rarely left pitches over the middle of the plate and kept the Rockies’ hitters on their toes all afternoon.
A product of Texas Christan University, Young has dominated since making his debut, allowing just one earned run in three career starts.
The losing skid continues
The Rockies’ losing ways continued with Sunday’s loss solidifying a disheartening end to the first half to the season for Colorado. The Rockies suffered a three-game sweep versus Arizona to drop their record to a game below .500 entering the All-Star break.
They are currently on a six-game losing streak, the second longest losing skid for the club this season. Additionally, the Rockies have lost 11 of their last 15 games and have seemingly lost any and all momentum.
The Rockies high-caliber offense has since cooled off, as the club has managed to score just four runs in their last three games.
With an overall record of 44-45 entering the break, the Rockies will need to improve their play drastically in the second half should they want to return to the postseason.
Rockies’ fail to provide Marquez with run support
Although he was not perfect, Rockies’ starting pitcher German Marquez pitched well enough through a majority of his outing to keep Colorado within striking distance of Arizona.
Marquez limited the Diamondbacks to a single run through five innings pitched, but Colorado’s offense was unable to break through to score runs and make the game competitive.
Arizona tagged Marquez for four runs in the sixth inning, establishing a 5-0 advantage that put the game out of reach considering the Rockies’ offensive woes.
All in all, Marquez was strong for the most part but faltered in the end. The 24-year-old finished with a line of six innings pitched, allowing five runs on six hits while striking out five.
Looking ahead
Although the first half of the MLB season is complete, a few of the Rockies’ players will be active over the course of the All-Star break.
The Rockies will be well represented at the All-Star Game in Cleveland, Ohio with Nolan Arenado, Charlie Blackmon, Trevor Story and David Dahl having all earned All-Star appearances this season. The four position players the Rockies are sending to Cleveland are the most in the league.
The club will be back in action beginning Friday night as they are set to welcome the Cincinnati Reds to Coors Field for a three-game series. The San Francisco Giants will then come to town for a four-game set at 20th and Blake.