You know it’s a good day when the only thing thinner than the air at Coors Field is the Rockies’ offense.
Ranger Suárez wasn’t dominant. He wasn’t flashy. But he was surgical — again. The lefty sliced through Colorado’s lineup for 6 2/3 scoreless innings Thursday afternoon, guiding the red-hot Phillies to a 2-0 win and a four-game sweep of the Rockies, who are now rewriting the history books for all the wrong reasons.
Let’s start with this gem: The Rockies are 8-42. That’s not a typo. That’s a .160 winning percentage — the worst 50-game start by any team in the modern era. That goes all the way back to 1901, when Teddy Roosevelt was president and the American League was just getting started.
Want more? Colorado is 5-20 at home and has now been shut out seven times — which is hard to do when you play at 5,280 feet.
But this one was all about Suárez, who’s been so quietly effective this season that you wonder if he’s sneaking into ballparks through a side door. He walked three, struck out six, and left only after a two-out double and a walk in the seventh. Orion Kerkering threw exactly one pitch — and it was enough to end the inning. Jordan Romano then locked it down in the ninth for save No. 6.
The Phillies, meanwhile, have now won seven in a row, and 11 of their last 12 on the road. That’s four straight road series wins, if you’re counting (which, of course, we are).
Germán Márquez (1-7) pitched better than his record suggests, giving up just four hits and two runs (one earned) over seven. But it was the little things that burned him. A leadoff walk to Kyle Schwarber in the seventh turned into a run when Max Kepler laced a one-out double.
And earlier, Bryce Harper’s fourth-inning double plated Bryson Stott, who reached when the Rockies decided “defense optional” was the vibe of the inning.
So it was another day, another win for the Phillies, and now on to Sacramento for a weekend set with the Athletics.
