Standing between the San Diego Padres and their first four-game winning streak since June 25-29 is Colorado Rockies right-hander German Marquez.
The Padres moved to the brink of a four-game sweep of the Rockies with an 8-5 win Saturday night at Petco Park in San Diego.
Now it’s broom or bust for the Padres, who were looking at the Rockies as a way to regain some momentum after losing 16 of their first 23 games coming out of the All-Star break.
As for the Rockies, their slide continues. They have now lost five straight games and are 8-26 since June 29, when they sat in second in the National League West.
Marquez (10-5, 4.82 ERA), who will be opposed by Padres right-hander Dinelson Lamet (1-2, 3.90), does give the Rockies a fighting chance Sunday — particularly against the Padres.
Marquez will be facing the Padres for the third time this season and owns a career 4-2 record against them, with a 5.13 ERA over 47 1/3 innings. He is 2-0 against the Padres this season with a 7.15 ERA, with both starts being at Coors Field in Colorado, where the Rockies have supported him with 26 runs.
“We tend to score a lot of runs when German pitches,” said Rockies manager Bud Black.
This will be Marquez’s first outing at Petco Park this season. In five career appearances (four starts) at Petco Park, Marquez is 1-2 with a 5.33 ERA. This is also his 14th road start of the season, away from the rarefied air of Coors Field. Marquez is 6-3 on the road this season with a 3.53 ERA compared to 4-2 with a 6.45 ERA at home.
Meanwhile, Lamet will be coming off his best start of the season and pitching on four days’ rest for the first time since undergoing Tommy John elbow reconstruction surgery in the spring of 2018. Tuesday in Seattle, Lamet allowed two hits with four walks while striking out 12 in seven shutout innings, the longest of his six outings. His 104 pitches also marked the first time he had thrown more than 88 since the surgery.
“We felt — where we are, where he is and the strength he has — that we’re comfortable with him doing this,” Green said of the decision, made only Saturday, to start Lamet on four days’ rest, even though he has worked only 30 innings since returning to the rotation.
“In Lamet’s case, he’s not going to go hit that 150-inning threshold that other starters are working toward because his season is shorter. The strength he has, the way he feels … we trust his work. We trust him telling us how he feels. He’s more than capable of doing that. We want to make sure he was comfortable going on regular rest.”
Lamet’s last start had much to do with the decision to start him Sunday.
“From the fourth inning on in his last start, that’s as good as he’s been,” Green said. “There was real finish to his fastball. He was pounding the strike zone and his slider was swing and miss.
“That’s the guy we need to see from the first pitch all the way through to the end of the game. And that’s the guy he is capable of being. The command was back. That is big for him. He’s a guy who has always blown people away with his stuff. Sometimes, command takes a little while to come back after you have Tommy John surgery.”
Lamet has faced the Rockies once before, allowing six runs (five earned) on four hits and four walks in four innings in Denver in 2017.