DENVER — The Pirates nearly made some history again Tuesday night. The kind they obviously never actually want to make.
For eight innings, it looked like Rockies starter was going to no-hit them ... until Ka’ai Tom, of all people, broke it up with a line-drive single to right-center field to open the ninth.
The fact that Marquez couldn’t finish it off was relatively immaterial. The Pirates still lost, 8-0, to the Rockies, their second consecutive defeat in this series. They’ve still failed to score a run in two consecutive games at Coors Field, which for every other team is a terrific place to hit.
The Pirates, meanwhile, do not have an extra-base hit in their past 18 innings here — a sizable departure from how they hit while winning three of four in St. Louis, scoring 21 runs during the season.
Tom’s single proved to be a minor blip, as Michael Perez hit into a double play, and Adam Frazier grounded out to second base to end the game. Marquez settled for a complete-game shutout, allowing that one hit with one walk and five strikeouts.
For much of the game, it looked like Lucas Giolito 2.0, where the White Sox pitcher holding Pittsburgh without a hit on Aug. 25, 2020.
Tuesday nearly marked the 11th time the Pirates have been no-hit in their history.
It was nearly the second no-hitter thrown at Coors, the first (and now only) belonging to Hideo Nomo — with the Dodgers — during a 9-0 win over the Rockies on Sept. 17, 1996. Similar to Marquez, Nomo walked four and struck out eight, throwing 110 pitches total.
Kyle Freeland, who tossed five shutout innings in the first game of this series, carried a no-hitter into the ninth inning on July 9, 2017 before former Pirate Melky Cabrera broke that one up with a single.
It looked from the very first batter that the Pirates might be in for a tough night, as Frazier hit a ball on the nose and it went directly to Joshua Fuentes at first. That sort of feeling continued in the eighth, when Jacob Stallings hit a liner to short — one Colorado’s Trevor Story jumped and snared.
A mistake pitch from Chase De Jong in the second inning helped the Rockies score their first run. Facing second baseman Garrett Hampson with a runner on, De Jong left a fastball up in the zone, and Hampson whacked it to right-center field for a double.
The Rockies made it a 2-0 game later in the second inning when first baseman Joshua Fuentes drove a slider from De Jong through the right side for a run-scoring single.
De Jong had to pick himself up in the fourth inning, when his errant throw on a pickoff attempt allowed right fielder Charlie Blackmon to motor all the way to third. On a swinging bunt from third baseman Ryan McMahon, De Jong flipped to Stallings for the out at home.
The loudest and longest hit off of De Jong came courtesy of former Pirates catcher Elias Diaz, who blasted one for the second game in a row. Diaz caught a curveball from De Jong and crushed it 451 feet to center field for a solo home run in the fifth.
That was the start of another rough inning for the Pirates, one that saw the Rockies turn this into a 5-0 laugher. Marquez followed with a double and scored on Blackmon’s single — a play the Pirates absolutely should have made.
On another swinging bunt, Stallings’ throw was a little wide of Phillip Evans at first. Evans — playing in place of the injured Colin Moran — also couldn’t keep his foot on the bag. Story followed with Colorado’s third double of the game, this time sending a sinker from De Jong out to center.
Meanwhile, the Pirates offense was powerless against Marquez, who prior to this one was 4-1 lifetime against them, pitching to a 2.25 ERA in five career starts. Marquez also came into Monday’s game with a 0.69 ERA over his last four starts at Coors Field.
Through five innings, the hardest ball the Pirates hit was one by Kevin Newman, which was right at Story for an inning-ending double play. Through six, the Pirates had struck out four times and hit just four balls out of the infield, Pittsburgh consistently unable to solve Marquez and his heavy fastball-slider combination.
Marquez needed 50 pitches to get through five and 60 to navigate six, making a no-hitter seem possible.
It really picked up steam in the seventh, when Ke’Bryan Hayes bounced out weakly to short, Ben Gamel struck out, and Gregory Polanco flied out to center.
On the flip side, the Rockies kept adding to their lead. After Cody Ponce relieved De Jong, Marquez doubled again to score Fuentes, pushing the Rockies in front, 6-0. Left fielder Raimel Tapia followed with a double of his own — the Rockies’ fifth of the game — to tack on another run.
De Jong scuffled through another outing, allowing five earned runs on nine hits over five innings.
