Fische » Colorado’s bid to gain ground in the NL

West appeared to be in jeopardy when German Marquez gave up a leadoff double and a two-run homer in the opening inning.The right-hander shook off those two first-pitch hits C. J. Cron Jersey , shutting down the Arizona Diamondbacks the rest of the way in a game the Rockies needed to win.Marquez struck out 11 in seven innings and Ian Desmond had three RBIs, lifting Colorado to a 6-2 win over the Diamondbacks on Friday night.“After the home run, I saw a little different mound presence from Marquez,” Rockies manager Bud Black said. “He said, ‘Ok, that’s it, nothing else is going to happen.’ That was pretty cool.”The Rockies bounced back nicely after a three-game sweep by the Los Angeles Dodgers dropped them 2 1/2 games back in the NL West and 1 1/2 games behind St. Louis for the second NL wild card.The Cardinals won again, but the Dodgers lost 5-3 to San Diego, leaving the Rockies 1 1/2 back in the division.Marquez (13-10) put them in position, shaking off David Peralta’s homer in the first inning with six scoreless frames. He allowed six hits and tied Pedro Astacio (1999) for second on Colorado’s single-season strikeout list with 210. Marquez is the third Colorado pitcher — with Astacio and Ubaldo Jimenez — with 200 strikeouts in a season.The right-hander’s outing gave the Rockies time to adjust to Zack Greinke.Greinke (14-11) carried a no-hitter into the fifth inning and struck out six, but the Rockies scored four runs in the eighth after he left with one out. Desmond hit a two-run single off Brad Ziegler in Colorado’s team-record 42nd road win.“We are a good team,” Marquez said through a translator. “We always believe in our offense and know that at any given moment, we’re going to break out of this. It was a great feeling to come out of the game and see them put up those runs.”Arizona had its chances http://www.raysfanproshop.com/authentic-evan-longoria-jersey , but failed in a couple of key situations while going 1 for 8 with runners in scoring position. The Diamondbacks have lost five of six to drop six games behind the Cardinals in the wild-card race.“I didn’t feel like they were awful pitches, just good hitting,” Ziegler said.Greinke allowed four runs in 6 1/3 innings in a loss to Houston his last start. The right-hander was sharp early on against the Rockies, not allowing a ball out of the infield for the first two innings or a hit until Desmond’s run-scoring single with one out in the fifth.D.J. LeMahieu tied it at 2 with a run-scoring double off Greinke in the sixth.Greinke allowed three runs and four hits in 7 1/3 innings.“You get out to a 2-0 lead you feel like things are going to go in a real good direction, especially the way Zack has thrown the ball,” Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo said. “He was executing a great game plan and I thought he had some of the best stuff he had all year. They chipped away on at him and obviously the eighth inning got away from us.”KEY REVIEWColorado’s four-run eighth came after a video review went in its favor.With two runners on and one out, LeMahieu hit a ball back to Ziegler, who fired it to second. Shortstop Nick Ahmed tried to turn a double play, but made a weak throw to first as Charlie Blackmon slid hard into second base.Blackmon kicked his leg out and raised his arms, prompting the Diamondbacks to call for an umpire review for runner interference. After a long review, the play was upheld and the Rockies went on to score four runs in the inning.“It’s pretty clear to me by the letter of the law that it is an illegal slide,” Ziegler said. “It is unfortunate that they didn’t see it that way. When you watch the replay, it’s obvious that he made contact with his hands.”TRAINER’S ROOMRockies: SS Trevor Story participated in baseball activities prior to Friday’s game Jonny Venters Jersey , but Black said he still could be out two or three more games with a sore right elbow.UP NEXTDiamondbacks LHP Patrick Corbin is 4-2 with a 2.70 ERA his last nine starts heading into Saturday. Rockies RHP Antonio Senzatela is coming off his first road win since April 27 after allowing a run in five-plus innings against San Francisco. He also never won a Cy Young Award, was named in the infamous Mitchell Report and admitted to using human growth hormone.Speaking of which...The HoldoversOh, here we go.Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens both belong in the Hall of Fame.Bonds is the all-time leader for career and single-season home runs next to a raft of other accolades and accomplishments. Clemens is a seven-time Cy Young Award winner and ranks third on the list of all-time strikeout leaders.Counterargument: Both players were implicated in baseball's steroid era and should be kept out of the Hall of Fame for moral reasons.You already know where you come down in that particular debate, so we're not going to try to convince you one way or the other.Last year, Bonds got 56.4 percent of the vote and Clemens got 57.3 percent. As an aside, if you're a member of the Baseball Writers' Association of America who cast a "yes" for Clemens and a "no" for Bonds, you need to turn in your credentials now. Like, seriously.At any rate, Bonds and Clemens figure to hang around, short of induction but well above elimination, while MLB wrestles with its history of performance-enhancing drugs.Uncredited/Associated Press"Things are definitely turning around for the better," Bonds said in January, per MLB.com's Barry M. Bloom. "I only have so many years left. So Matt Moore Jersey , 2021? That's going to be fun. And they're going to put us in together? That'd be great."Beyond the PED conundrum, voters will consider Edgar Martinez, the greatest designated hitter of all time, along with Mike Mussina and Curt Schilling.All three surpassed 50 percent of the vote in 2018, but none is a shoo-in for enshrinement. Schilling appears to have been dinged for his controversial political leanings and borderline statistical case. Mussina might be stuck in good-not-great purgatory, though his vote total rose to 63.5 percent in 2018.Martinez, meanwhile, is the test case for whether a DH can gain HOF entry, and his 70.4 percent vote total in 2018 put him on the doorstep. The InducteesSo, who's getting a plaque in Cooperstown in 2019?Rivera, the all-time saves leader with 652, has all the trappings of a first-ballot lock. He's a lifetime New York Yankee, a postseason legend and the platonic ideal of a closer. In a world where it took Trevor Hoffman only three years http://www.rangersfanproshop.com/authentic-matt-moore-jersey , Rivera should do it in one.Martinez got close enough in 2018 to suggest he might vault over the 75 percent threshold. It's also his final year of eligibility, though there are other avenues for future induction.Instead, we'll pick a different player to join Rivera in the '19 class.That would be Halladay, whose 203 wins, 2,117 strikeouts, two Cy Young Awards, perfect game and postseason no-hitter compose a strong if not unimpeachable HOF resume.Pouya Dianat/Atlanta Braves/Getty ImagesWith Halladay'stragic deathin November still fresh in the minds of voters, his induction may come sooner than previously expected.Martinez could make it a trio, but it says here it'll be Rivera and Halladay in 2019, while the Bonds/Clemens PED can gets kicked down the road.All statistics courtesy of Baseball Reference.