The start of the game could not have gone much better for German Marquez.
And the end was a pleasure, too, for to the Colorado Rockies, who moved back into the NL West lead.
The hard-throwing Marquez started with eight straight strikeouts to match a modern-era big league record, and the Rockies routed the Philadelphia Phillies 14-0 on Wednesday night to take a step closer to a postseason berth.
“We still have got four more games. So we have to keep our heads in the same spot, just stay focused and continue to play good baseball,” Rockies slugger Carlos Gonzalez said. “Anything can happen in four days. But we’re right around where we want to be.”
The Rockies outscored the Phillies by 34-4 over the first three games of the four-game series. David Dahl homered for the third straight game, and the Rockies went deep four times in all as they extended their winning streak to six.
Colorado moved into the top spot in the NL West by a half-game with the Los Angeles Dodgers losing at Arizona. Trying to capture their first division title, the Rockies have not been in first place this late since 1995.
They also opened a 1½-game advantage over St. Louis for the last NL wild-card spot.
Marquez (14-10) allowed three hits in seven innings and struck out 11 to set a Rockies record with 221 for the season, seven more than Ubaldo Jimenez’s total in 2010.
By striking out his first eight batters, Marquez tied a post-1900 mark set by Houston’s Jim Deshaies on Sept. 23, 1986, and equaled by the New York Mets’ Jacob deGrom on Sept. 15, 2014. The overall record of nine was set by New York’s Mickey Welch in an NL game on Aug. 28, 1884.
Phillies pitcher Nick Pivetta finally broke the string with a grounder that Marquez fielded only to throw wildly to first for an error. Roman Quinn got Philadelphia’s first hit in the fourth.
“I really executed my plan good,” Marquez said through an interpreter. “The same mindset, attacking the hitter and executing my pitches. A lot of times it doesn’t work perfectly. Tonight, it was close to that.”
Marquez had everything working — fastball, his two breaking balls and even an occasional change.
“It was impressive,” Gonzalez said. “It’s one of those things you really enjoy as a position player, seeing a guy dominate the way he did tonight. It’s exactly what we need at this point.”
Marquez’s gem is the latest chapter in what’s been a frustrating finish for the Phillies (78-80), who have lost a season-high seven straight and have gone 15-32 since moving a season-high 15 games over .500 on Aug. 5. Philadelphia allowed double-digit runs in three straight games for the first time since June 1-4, 1958.
“We’re playing really bad baseball right now, really bad baseball,” manager Gabe Kapler said. “There’s no excuse for it, none at all and we all have to look ourselves in the mirror, individually and collectively and figure out how to be better.”
Trevor Story finished a double shy of the cycle. Charlie Blackmon went 0 for 4, ending his 17-game hitting streak.
Colorado broke open the game with a seven-run fifth that included Dahl’s three-run homer, a two-run shot from Story and another two-run homer by Ian Desmond. All seven runs were scored with two outs.
“Nobody wants to go out there and try to carry the weight or try to be the hero,” Gonzalez said. “Everybody needs to do their part and believe in their teammates. That’s what we’re doing.”
UP NEXT
Colorado’s RHP Antonio Senzatela (6-6, 4.52 ERA) starts Thursday against RHP Jake Arrieta (10-10, 3.94), who is 2-2 in his career against the Rockies.
AROUND THE MAJORS
–The Chicago Cubs and Milwaukee Brewers are the latest teams to clinch playoff berth. And there’s a new leader in the National League West.
The Cubs squandered a 6-1 lead before Albert Almora Jr. provided a walk-off single in the 10th inning to push Chicago past the Pirates, 7-6. Jason Hayward slammed a two-run homer and Javier Baez picked up his NL-leading 111th RBI with a run-scoring single. Starling Marte extended the game with a two-run double off Justin Wilson in the ninth before the Cubs stopped a two-game skid and stayed a half-game ahead of Milwaukee in the NL Central.
–The Brewers nailed down their first playoff appearance in seven years with a 2-1 victory at St. Louis. Jhoulys Chacin combined with four relievers on a two-hitter and Travis Shaw delivered a pair of RBI singles. Chacin limited the Cards to one run and one hit over five innings to improve to 15-8.
The Cardinals almost scored the tying run in the bottom of the eighth, but pinch-runner Adolis Garcia slipped rounding third and was thrown out at the plate by second baseman Hernan Perez to end the threat. The loss leaves the Cardinals one game behind the Dodgers for the second NL wild card.
–Los Angeles fell into the second NL wild-card slot with a 7-2 loss at Arizona. The Diamondbacks chased Ross Stripling with a three-run second and A.J. Pollock hit his three-run homer in the fifth for a 6-2 lead.
Socrates Brito hit his first big league homer in two years and David Peralta hit his 30th of the season as the DBacks beat the Dodgers for the second night in a row.
— The Orioles set a franchise record with their 112th loss, absorbing a 19-3 thrashing by the Red Sox in Game 1 of a doubleheader in Boston. J.D. Martinez raised his major league-leading RBI total to 127 with a three-run homer and Rafael Devers went 4-for-5 with six RBIs. Martinez provided three of the Red Sox’s season-high 22 hits, Devers homered twice and Xander Bogaerts added a two-run shot and four RBIs.
— Baltimore avoided loss No. 113 by getting three RBIs from Trey Mancini in a 10-3 win over Boston in the nightcap. Mancini hit an RBI triple and later broke a 3-3 deadlock with a two-run single in the seventh. Red Sox starter Chris Sale was reached for three runs over 4 2/3 innings, his final tuneup before the playoffs.
— Masahiro Tanaka was also hit hard in his last regular-season start as the Rays touched up for four runs over four-plus innings of the Yankees’ 8-7 loss at Tampa. Tommy Pham homered for the Rays after Neil Walker’s three-run blast in the top of the first. Willy Adames added two RBIs to help Tampa Bay build an 8-3 lead.
— Oakland’s 9-3 win at Seattle puts the Athletics within 1 ½ games of the Yanks for the first AL wild card. Matt Olson’s 29th home run of the year was a grand slam in a six-run fifth. Khris Davis added his major league-high 47th home run in the seventh to cap the scoring.
— Jacob deGrom capped his exceptional season by tossing two-hit ball while fanning 10 over eight innings of the Mets’ 3-0 shutout of the Braves. DeGrom finishes the season with 269 strikeouts and a major league-leading 1.70 ERA. Dominic Smith and Michael Conforto belted eighth-inning homers after Smith put the Mets ahead with a single in the sixth.
— Randal Grichuk and Reese McGuire homered as the Blue Jays earned a 3-1 win over the Astros after announcing that manager John Gibbons would not be back next season. Gibbons is second to Cito Gaston on the team’s all-time list in victories and games managed, going 792-787 in 11 seasons during two stints with the Jays. He received a standing ovation when he brought the lineup card to home plate before the game.
— Edwin Encarnacion had a couple of big hits in the Indians’ 10-2 thumping of the White Sox, furnishing a three-run homer and an RBI single. Francisco Lindor led off the bottom of the first with a homer before Jason Kipnis and Roberto Perez drove in two runs a piece in the later innings. Shane Bieber struck out nine while tossing two-hit ball over six shutout innings.
— Johnny Field homered twice and Tyler Austin hit a two-run blast in the Twins’ 11-4 pounding of the Tigers. Field and Jorge Polanco drove in three runs apiece and Minnesota’s bullpen came through with six scoreless frames.
— The Nationals rolled to a 9-3, rain-shortened win over the Marlins as Victor Robles went 4-for-5 with a three-run homer and five RBIs. Spencer Kieboom added two hits and three ribbies in a game that was stopped before the top of the eighth began. Pending free agent Bryce Harper went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts in what could have been his final home game with the Nats.
— Shohei Ohtani hit a tiebreaking homer in the eighth inning to send the Angels past the Rangers, 3-2 for a three-game sweep. Ohtani had an early RBI single before he connected off Chris Martin, his former teammate in Japan with the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters.
— Travis Jankowski came within a double of hitting for the cycle as the Padres earned a 3-2 victory at San Francisco. The Giants pulled within 3-2 on Aramis Garcia’s two-run homer in the seventh before falling for the 18th time in 23 games.
— Heath Fillmyer was sharp in the Royals’ 6-1 win at Cincinnati, limiting the Reds to a run and four hits with nine strikeouts over 7 1/3 innings. Alex Gordon hit a solo homer and had two RBIs for Kansas City