Germán Márquez’s rough start to season continues as Rockies drop series finale, 9-3

Rockies Report, Game 34:

ROCKIES BOTTOM LINE: The struggles of Germán Márquez continued, and Colorado’s offense couldn’t maximize its opportunities against Giants All-Star starter Logan Webb, dropping the series finale 9-3 at Oracle Park.

In the fourth inning, Hunter Goodman singled and Michael Toglia walked, but the threat ended when Michael Toglia hit into a 4-6-3 double play.

One inning later, Mickey Moniak led off with a triple and Jacob Stallings drove him home with a single to left; Alan Trejo reached base thanks to a Webb error, leaving runners on first and second with no outs and Moniak already home. But one pitch later, Brenton Doyle hit into came another double play — 5 to 3 — and that chance petered out.

Consecutive triples in the eighth inning by Jordan Beck and Ryan McMahon led to a pair of runs; McMahon went 4-for-15 in the series with a home run and Sunday’s triple and posted a .953 OPS during the series as he pulled out of his slump.

The Rockies dropped to 6-28 and have now lost 14 consecutive series dating back to last season.

After a burst of hope with a two-game winning streak, Colorado dropped three in succession at San Francisco and is now back in all-time dreadful-pace territory. The Rockies’ 34-game start is the third-worst in the modern era, trailing only the 1981 Chicago Cubs and 1988 Baltimore Orioles; those teams opened 5-29.

ROCKIES STARTER’S REPORT

The only thing keeping Márquez from ranking last in MLB in earned run average is the fact that he hasn’t pitched enough innings to qualify — which would require having pitched 34 innings so far this season.

No pitcher with at least three starts has a higher ERA. That covers a sample size of 158 pitchers.

Márquez falls four innings short of “officially” qualifying because too often in his starts, he hasn’t lasted long enough. That trend in a rough start to the season for the veteran continued Sunday, as Bud Black pulled Márquez after just 68 pitches when he gave up a double and two singles with just one out recorded in the top of the fifth.

Two runs had already come home in the inning by the time Angel Chivilli entered; he threw a wild pitch before allowing an RBI double two pitches later, leaving Márquez on the hook for five earned runs on six hits.

In four of his last five starts, he hasn’t reached five innings; in the one start in that stretch when he did; Atlanta tagged him for 11 hits and a walk over 5 1/3 innings last Tuesday night.

Márquez allowed six hits and no walks — respectable compared to some of his other starts. But two of the hits were solo home runs; all but one of the baserunners scored. At 0-6, he is the second pitcher credited with six losses so far this season, joining Baltimore’s Charlie Morton, who was recently removed from the Orioles’ rotation.

BITS AND PIECES

IT WAS DECIDED FOR THE ROCKIES WHEN: Tyler Kinley walked the bases loaded before recording an out in the seventh inning, then, after striking out Willy Adames, plunked Jung Hoo Lee, plating the first of four San Francisco runs that inning to break the game wide open.

ROCKIES NUMBER TO NOTE: 30 — Colorado’s rank in Major League Baseball in strikeouts per nine innings from its pitching staff and strikeout percentage from its offense.

WHAT’S NEXT: An off-day — the team’s first in a fortnight — before returning home for a three-game series against the Detroit Tigers. Chase Dollander returns to the mound hoping to build off his strongest start so far. First pitch at Coors Field is set for 6:40 p.m. Tuesday.

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