Right-hander German Marquez’s sudden departure from Monday night’s game marred the Rockies’ 7-4 victory over the Cardinals at Coors Field.
Marquez, an all-star in 2021 and one of the most accomplished pitchers in franchise history, departed the mound with tightness in the mid-forearm of his right arm. He was warming up before the sixth inning when he stopped throwing on the advice of catcher Elias Diaz.
The Rockies are crossing their fingers that it’s not a major injury.
“I hope I will be all right, just tightness,” Marquez said, adding that he’s not worried about the injury.
Marquez, 28, said he has felt some tightness in between his three starts this season and said the tightness flared up again in the fourth inning on Monday. Diaz told Marquez to stop pitching in the sixth and motioned to the dugout to take Marquez out.
“He started moving his arm (around) and I saw his face and I thought, ‘There is something wrong here,’ ” Diaz said. “I came to the mound and asked him how he was feeling. He said, ‘I feel a little tight.’ ”
Diaz understood that it was time to be cautious.
“Because if he continued to throw the ball it can be dangerous, so right now I think everything is good,” Diaz said. “There is a lot of the season left ahead.”
Manager Bud Black said Marquez was taken out “for precautionary reasons.”
“We hope he’s going to be fine. We think he is,” Black said. “We are going to reevaluate him tomorrow. We’ll see how he is tomorrow and the next day.”
Black said that the examination on Tuesday might include an MRI. Marquez said he did not know if he’ll have to miss a start.
When Marquez stopped throwing during warmups, Black and head trainer Keith Dugger hurried out from the dugout as Marquez’s teammates huddled around him. He walked slowly off the mound.
Marquez was shut down at the end of the 2019 season after he made 28 starts because he felt pain in his right elbow. He said the discomfort now is different than in 2019.
“In ’19, it was pain, behind the elbow,” Marquez said. “This is just sore.”
The Rockies were leading the Cardinals 4-2 when Marquez left the game. He started the game pitching very well, setting the Cardinals down in order in the first three innings. He departed having given up two earned runs on three hits with four strikeouts and no walks, improving his record to 2-1 and whittling his ERA to 4.41.
Marquez entered the game on the verge of setting two major milestones in Rockies history. He needed 10 strikeouts to tie Jorge De La Rosa (985 strikeouts) for the all-time franchise record, so he remains six short of that mark. But Marquez did pick up the win for the 65th victory of his career, passing Jeff Francis for third-most in franchise history.
Left-handed reliever Brent Suter replaced Marquez and pitched two shutout innings. And Justin Lawrence gave up one run in two frames. All told, the Cardinals managed just six hits.
The Rockies, meanwhile, beat up St. Louis pitching, churning out 13 hits.
Rookie shortstop Ezequiel Tovar hit two doubles, the second one driving in a run in Colorado’s two-run sixth. Alan Trejo, who got the start at second base, went 3-for-4 and drove in two runs. The three hits tied his career high, first set on Sept. 6 of last season vs. Milwaukee.
And third baseman Elehuris Montero whistled an RBI double down the right-field line in the fourth and then singled and scored a run in the sixth.
The overriding concern, of course, is the severity of Marquez’s injury. The Rockies starting rotation is already thin and the club was counting on Marquez, and lefty Kyle Freeland, to carry the load.
Marquez was hoping to rebound from a difficult 2022 season when he posted a 4.95 ERA across 31 starts, his highest ERA in any full season of his career. He set career-highs in runs allowed (185) and home runs (30).
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