DENVER -- When he walked off the Coors Field mound after the shortest outing of his career on May 4, Germán Márquez headed to the clubhouse with a 6.21 ERA on the season.

When he walked off the same mound after his start against the A’s on Sunday, Márquez’s season ERA was more than two runs lower.

Márquez was brilliant again in Colorado’s 3-1 victory over Oakland to avoid a sweep, improving the Rockies’ home record to 20-14 in 2021. The right-hander yielded one run on four hits while walking one and striking out six.

Colorado’s ace is a different pitcher from the one that opened the season, with a 1.89 ERA over six starts since the disastrous early May outing against the Giants.

“We recognized a number of starts ago that the tempo through his windup was a little fast and then sometimes a little slow,” manager Bud Black said. “We put a stopwatch on it, and it got to the point where he was hurried or it was slow.

“In bullpen sessions we really worked on him getting a consistent tempo from the time he made his first move to the time he released the ball, both out of the windup and in the stretch. I think that had a big impact.”

It appears that the hard work is paying off. Márquez’s early-season struggles weren’t manifesting in the quality of contact against him -- according to Statcast, opponents’ hard-hit rate against him through the May 4 outing was 37.1%, and in the six starts since, it’s 36.1%.

The issue early on was that Márquez was getting into too many deep counts, which drove up his pitch count during early-season outings and made him less effective. Straightening out the tempo has remedied that.

“I think it helped his ball-strike ratio and his control and command,” Black said. “This afternoon, a really good breaking ball. [The A’s are] a team that doesn’t chase a lot. … But he was in the strike zone a lot, I thought, with his breaking ball and his fastball. He mixed in his changeup just to keep them honest. But I think it’s more about the consistent delivery, both in his windup and [out of] the stretch.”

He had just enough run support from his lineup. Raimel Tapia continued his hot streak at the plate with a third-inning RBI single -- he’s 12-for-24 over his last five games. A pair of sacrifice flies -- one in the fourth inning by Brendan Rodgers and the other from Dom Núñez in the eighth -- accounted for the remainder of Colorado’s scoring.

The relief duo of Mychal Givens (one inning) and Daniel Bard (two innings) combined for three scoreless frames to nail down the victory.

Much like Márquez, Bard has turned his season around. On the same day Márquez had his poor start against San Francisco, Bard’s ERA was 9.00. Since then, he’s yielded just one earned run in 12 outings (across 15 innings).

The Rockies have played well at home so far this season. On the road, not so much. With a 4-22 record away from Coors Field, Colorado now embarks on a six-game road trip through Miami and Cincinnati. The starting pitching has been good, and with Antonio Senzatela (2.28 ERA over his last four starts) and Austin Gomber (1.53 ERA over his last five starts) lined up to begin the trip, that run could very well continue.

It’s the offense that’s been the problem -- the Rockies are hitting .197/.273/.289 on the road.

Black said the only way to right the ship on the road is to prepare, prepare, and then prepare some more.

“We’re doing everything we can through coaching, conversation, early work -- we’ll be on the field early in Miami on Tuesday with the whole group of players,” Black said. “We’ll get a machine out there, we’ll throw breaking balls, we’ll throw fastballs, we’ll get in the cage and do the same thing. We’ll talk about their starting pitching, we’ll talk about their bullpen, what they like to do. We’ll do it all, and hopefully we can turn the corner on this offense on the road.”

Black and his staff have a tall order in front of them in many facets of the game with the current roster, but the club’s strength -- its starting pitching -- seems to be in a good spot. As he tries to guide the lineup to more production, he knows he has something he can work with: desire to improve.

“The Hampsons, the Tapias, the McMahons, the Rodgers, the Dazas, the Díazes, the Núñezs, the Fuentes’, these guys work every day to get better,” Black said. “They play with a lot of energy and they play with a lot of heart.

“I love that about this group.”