ATLANTA -- Rockies right-hander Germán Márquez and third baseman Ryan McMahon loaded Friday night’s game on their shoulders and planned to carry it until help arrived.
It never did in the 12-4 loss to the Braves at Truist Park.
In dreamier times -- like, as the season began -- what Márquez and McMahon did Friday fit a formula for at least a chance at success for a team lacking impact and depth. Márquez was workman-like for five innings, with seven strikeouts against one run on six hits. McMahon launched a two-run homer in the first, doubled and added an RBI single as the Rockies built a 4-1 lead.
Before addressing what went wrong, let’s look at Márquez and McMahon. Their struggles at the start of the year helped put the Rockies in their current predicament -- 13-56, tied with the 1932 Red Sox for second-worst after 69 games in the Modern Era (since 1900). Only the 1904 Senators (12-53) were worse. But Márquez and McMahon, both 30, are performing like veteran beacons.
The Braves have struggled of late, but plenty of them have a 2021 World Series ring. Márquez had a 9.90 ERA through seven starts before righting himself with seven innings of one-run work against the Padres on May 11. He has two quality starts and a 3.54 ERA over his last five outings.
Márquez continued with breaking balls that have been solid, even at Coors, and spotted his fastball as consistently as in any start this year. He is pitching well enough to either help the Rockies or help improve them by enticing another team to trade for him in advance of the July 31 Trade Deadline.
“I feel good with my fastball command,” Márquez said. “The fastball made my curveball better. That was the game for me.”
Márquez was limited to one start last season in his return from right elbow surgery. This year, while making $10 million to end a two-year, $20 million contract extension, Márquez has seen improvement in his pitches after a rusty start.
“I saw him pitching ahead,” interim manager Warren Schaeffer said. “I saw him pitching in. Good fastball command to both sides of the plate and a good curveball. He was using his heater late, pitching backwards a little bit when it called for it. He did what he wanted to do with the baseball tonight.”
McMahon’s ninth homer of the season and second-inning double were part of an effort that bounced Braves starter Bryce Elder after 3 1/3 innings. McMahon went 3-for-4 with a walk and has batted .455 (10-for-22) in his last seven games, with three homers, two doubles and six walks.
Since batting .147 (15-for-102) through April 30, McMahon is producing at .287 (37-for-129) with a .922 OPS.
“Just getting my swing in a better spot in my work, then I just go play instead of trying to force it,” McMahon said.
McMahon, who is making $16 million this year and next to finish his six-year, $70 million deal and has seen his name in trade-oriented reports, is seeing the players he’s with showing signs of improvement. The Rockies would rather celebrate victory than discuss baby steps in losses. Nonetheless, recently more games have been winnable. Friday’s 14 hits were the second-most for the Rockies in any road game this season, behind 19 in a 14-12 victory over the Diamondbacks on May 17.
“Shoot, man, against the Giants, we were in all three of those [and won one, Thursday], and we were in this one for a long time tonight and [it] got away from us," McMahon said. "That's going to happen. We’ve just got to make sure that we start turning it the other way, instead of letting this become what’s expected.”
The final result lifted the run deficit to a scarcely fathomable 209. Friday could have cut into that.
The Rockies hit into three of their four double plays while leading. Batting with no outs in the second, Tyler Freeman grounded into a double play. In the fourth, Brenton Doyle grounded into a double play with one out and the bases loaded.
“That last series we had was trending in the right direction, 100 percent -- and today, same thing, but we’ve got to get the job done, execution-wise, when runners are aboard,” Schaeffer said.
The game spun out of control against a bullpen that yielded 11 runs, after posting a 1.00 ERA in its previous 10 road games. Jake Bird yielded a three-run homer to Michael Harris II and Victor Vodnik gave up a three-run shot to Marcell Ozuna. Bird, who would have been out of the sixth had he not walked Sean Murphy with two out and a full count, ended the night with a still-sparkling 2.06 ERA.