Rockies' ace revels in charm of historic start

DENVER -- The one-hitter was done, so were the on-field interviews. But Germán Márquez was in no way ready to put his 8-0 victory over the Pirates to bed. He would not, for a long while.

Still in the purple game jersey he wore while holding the Pirates hitless until Ka’ai Tom’s ninth-inning leadoff single, Márquez entered the Infinity Club seating area behind home plate at Coors Field to share the moment with his wife, Dilvanny. Because of issues between the U.S. and Venezuela, it took him nearly two years to get her and the couple’s nearly 3-year-old son, Damian, into the country.

“That was amazing, having my family here, having my kid here,” said Márquez, 26, whose family shared celebratory pictures with fellow Venezuelan Elias Díaz and his wife, Katherine Delgado. “I’m waiting to bring my parents here. It’s going to be super, super good.”

Márquez retired to the clubhouse, where he proudly wore the cartoonish, but coveted, MVP chain. They talked baseball, relaxed with beverages. Two hours later, most of the guys had left. But Márquez remained, in full gear.

If they’d asked him to pitch another inning, depending on how hard he celebrated, he would have been ready. He simply refused to let go of the feeling of throwing the second complete-game one-hitter in Rockies history -- and, of course, his second.

Fellow pitcher Kyle Freeland, who on July 9, 2017, took a no-hit game 8 1/3 innings, knew Márquez’s feeling like no other, even if he couldn’t hang with the postgame revelry.

“When I left the clubhouse, he was still in full uniform,” Freeland said. “You definitely want to hold that feeling for as long as you can, because you want to try and replicate it every time out. Obviously, no-hitters are rare to come by. But our goal every time out is to go nine innings.”

But the magic doesn’t leave when the uniform comes off. The evidence is there that Márquez took off his black vest after holding the Brewers to one hit in six innings on June 17. And you’ll have to take our word for the fact that he didn’t wear the purple top from his eight-inning, two-hit, one-run game at Seattle on June 23.

But what isn’t leaving Márquez is the increasing artfulness of his pitches. The best description of his four-seam and two-seam fastballs is tied up in his son’s nickname from birth -- “Easy Cheese,” something Márquez recounts with a wide smile. But Márquez’s historic hot streak is connected to standout breaking pitches, his slider and his curve.

“My curveball was 12-6,” Márquez said, describing the drop by the numbers on a circular clock. “My curveball is sometimes like a slurve [combination curveball and slider break]. But last night, it made my slider look bigger. I think my best slider was my last game, in Seattle -- it had a lot of movement.”

The numbers say whatever Márquez throws, it is effective. According to Statcast, his last two starts yielded his lowest exit velocities on batted balls this season -- 88 mph in Seattle, 86.1 against the Pirates.

There’s still the feeling around the Rockies that Márquez is a secret beyond those who face him or manage against him. The live cut-ins from other games Tuesday just may have done the trick to broaden a reputation that is limited slightly by the park in which he pitches.

The numbers for even the best Rockies pitchers will never stack up with those elsewhere. Ubaldo Jiménez ‘s 3.66 ERA over six years with Colorado stands as the club's best, even though Jiménez -- as well as Márquez, Freeland and Jon Gray from the current staff -- put up performances that would have yielded more noticeable ERAs if they worked in a more pitcher-friendly home park.

Since the start of 2019, Márquez has posted a 4.21 ERA over 58 starts -- not exactly the stuff of stardom. But when you remove five colossally bad games -- three at Coors Field, one at the Cubs’ Wrigley Field and another at the Reds’ Great American Ball Park -- his ERA is 3.24, well below Jiménez’s club-record pace. But while the Trade Deadline rumor mill will suggest other teams should deal for him, it would be tough. He is signed through '24 to a club-friendly contract, with a Rockies team that believes it can contend in future years because of its starting pitching.

The current run -- Márquez’s 23 innings with one run allowed on four hits over his last three starts -- joined him with Rube Marquard (1911) and Johnny Vander Meer (1938) as the only pitchers since 1893 to have stats like that over a three-start span, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

It’s heady stuff. No wonder Márquez didn’t want to let it go. But when he was ready to move past Tuesday, it was OK. His son may be known as “Easy Cheese,” but he’s too young to talk baseball, and has other interests.

“He has no idea,” Márquez said. “He wants to watch cartoons on YouTube. He’s like, ‘You going to use that tablet?’”

When awareness hits, Damian will have plenty of videos of his dad, preserved in uniform and excelling at his job.