Field Level Media
Sep 26, 2018
German Marquez struck out 11, including the first eight batters of the game to tie a modern major league record, and the Colorado Rockies beat the Philadelphia Phillies 14-0 on Wednesday night in Denver to claim sole possession of first place in the National League West.
David Dahl, Trevor Story and Ian Desmond all homered in a seven-run fifth inning for the Rockies (88-70), who won their sixth straight and passed the Los Angeles Dodgers (88-71) in the division. The Dodgers lost 7-2 to the Arizona Diamondbacks later Wednesday.
Los Angeles now possesses the second NL wild card, one game up on St. Louis (87-72). Milwaukee completed a three-game sweep of the Cardinals on Wednesday night.
Marquez has fanned 10 or more batters in five of his past six starts, and he hit that mark early in Wednesday's game. He set a franchise record for consecutive strikeouts to begin an outing and matched the modern-day mark of eight straight previously accomplished by Jim Deshaies and Jacob deGrom.
Marquez (14-10) also set a franchise record for strikeouts in a season with 221. He scattered three hits and walked one in seven innings.
Nick Pivetta (7-14) allowed six runs in 4 2/3 innings for Philadelphia. The Phillies (78-80) have been outscored 34-4 in the first three games of a four-game series that wraps up Thursday afternoon.
Pivetta kept the game close through the first four innings, allowing a sacrifice fly and an RBI single, both by Carlos Gonzalez, before Colorado erupted in the fifth.
After a leadoff walk to Tony Wolters, Pivetta got the next two batters but couldn't get the third out. He walked DJ LeMahieu and then gave up Dahl's 13th home run to make it 5-0. It was the third straight night Dahl has homered.
Nolan Arenado's double ended Pivetta's night. Victor Arano relieved Pivetta, and Story followed with his 34th home run. Gonzalez doubled, and Desmond hit his 21st home run to make it 9-0.
Drew Butera went deep in Colorado's four-run eighth inning, his third of the year and first for the Rockies.
Story finished with three of the Rockies' 16 hits. Philadelphia managed just four hits, with Colorado relievers Seunghwan Oh and Bryan Shaw each throwing an inning to complete the shutout.
--Field Level Media