News » Billy McKinney hit his first career home

PHOENIX (AP) — Colorado’s bid to gain ground in the NL West appeared to be in jeopardy when German Marquez gave up a leadoff double and a two-run homer in the opening inning.The right-hander shook off those two first-pitch hits http://www.bluejaysfanproshop.com/authentic-randal-grichuk-jersey , shutting down the Arizona Diamondbacks the rest of the way in a game the Rockies needed to win.Marquez struck out 11 in seven innings and Ian Desmond had three RBIs, lifting Colorado to a 6-2 win over the Diamondbacks on Friday night.“After the home run, I saw a little different mound presence from Marquez,” Rockies manager Bud Black said. “He said, ‘Ok, that’s it, nothing else is going to happen.’ That was pretty cool.”The Rockies bounced back nicely after a three-game sweep by the Los Angeles Dodgers dropped them 2 1/2 games back in the NL West and 1 1/2 games behind St. Louis for the second NL wild card.The Cardinals won again, but the Dodgers lost 5-3 to San Diego, leaving the Rockies 1 1/2 back in the division.Marquez (13-10) put them in position Jose Bautista Jersey , shaking off David Peralta’s homer in the first inning with six scoreless frames. He allowed six hits and tied Pedro Astacio (1999) for second on Colorado’s single-season strikeout list with 210. Marquez is the third Colorado pitcher — with Astacio and Ubaldo Jimenez — with 200 strikeouts in a season.The right-hander’s outing gave the Rockies time to adjust to Zack Greinke.Greinke (14-11) carried a no-hitter into the fifth inning and struck out six, but the Rockies scored four runs in the eighth after he left with one out. Desmond hit a two-run single off Brad Ziegler in Colorado’s team-record 42nd road win.“We are a good team,” Marquez said through a translator. “We always believe in our offense and know that at any given moment, we’re going to break out of this. It was a great feeling to come out of the game and see them put up those runs.”Arizona had its chances, but failed in a couple of key situations while going 1 for 8 with runners in scoring position. The Diamondbacks have lost five of six to drop six games behind the Cardinals in the wild-card race.“I didn’t feel like they were awful pitches, just good hitting,” Ziegler said.Greinke allowed four runs in 6 1/3 innings in a loss to Houston his last start. The right-hander was sharp early on against the Rockies, not allowing a ball out of the infield for the first two innings or a hit until Desmond’s run-scoring single with one out in the fifth.D.J. LeMahieu tied it at 2 with a run-scoring double off Greinke in the sixth.Greinke allowed three runs and four hits in 7 1/3 innings.“You get out to a 2-0 lead you feel like things are going to go in a real good direction, especially the way Zack has thrown the ball Troy Tulowitzki Jersey ,” Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo said. “He was executing a great game plan and I thought he had some of the best stuff he had all year. They chipped away on at him and obviously the eighth inning got away from us.”KEY REVIEWColorado’s four-run eighth came after a video review went in its favor.With two runners on and one out, LeMahieu hit a ball back to Ziegler, who fired it to second. Shortstop Nick Ahmed tried to turn a double play, but made a weak throw to first as Charlie Blackmon slid hard into second base.Blackmon kicked his leg out and raised his arms, prompting the Diamondbacks to call for an umpire review for runner interference. After a long review, the play was upheld and the Rockies went on to score four runs in the inning.“It’s pretty clear to me by the letter of the law that it is an illegal slide,” Ziegler said. “It is unfortunate that they didn’t see it that way. When you watch the replay, it’s obvious that he made contact with his hands.”TRAINER’S ROOMRockies: SS Trevor Story participated in baseball activities prior to Friday’s game, but Black said he still could be out two or three more games with a sore right elbow.UP NEXTDiamondbacks LHP Patrick Corbin is 4-2 with a 2.70 ERA his last nine starts heading into Saturday. Rockies RHP Antonio Senzatela is coming off his first road win since April 27 after allowing a run in five-plus innings against San Francisco. TORONTO — The Toronto Blue Jays will be looking to sweep the Baltimore Orioles on Wednesday afternoon by winning the finale of the three-game series at the Rogers Centre.A victory would mean more than a series sweep for the Blue Jays as it would allow them to complete an umblemished home schedule against the Orioles this season at 10-0.By clubbing four solo home runs in an 8-2 victory Tuesday night Marcus Stroman Jersey , the Blue Jays moved to 11-1 against the Orioles this season. The Orioles’ only win over the Blue Jays this season was April 11 in the finale of a three-game series at Camden Yards.Article continues below ...The teams still have two more three-game series in Baltimore this season.The Blue Jays already have clinched their first home series win since they swept the Orioles in three games July 20-22.The Orioles will start right-hander David Hess (2-7, 5.95 ERA) on Wednesday while the Blue Jays will send out left-hander Thomas Pannone (0-0, 4.15), who will be making his first major league start.Pannone made his major league debut Aug. 10 and has appeared in four games as a reliever.Pannone started six games with Triple-A Buffalo this season and had a 4.91 ERA and 1.28 WHIP with 40 strikeouts in 36 2/3 innings. He has pitched in only nine minor league games this season, going 0-4 with a 5.36 ERA, including stints at Class A Dunedin and Double-A New Hampshire because of an 80-game suspension after testing positive for a performance-enhancing substance.The 24-year-old was obtained in July last year in a deal that sent reliever Joe Smith to the Cleveland Indians.Hess made his major league debut May 12, winning two of his first three starts. He has not won since May 25, going 0-6 with a 6.61 ERA in 11 outings (nine starts) since his last win.He received a no-decision in his only appearance against the Blue Jays, allowing one run in six innings of Baltimore’s 5-4 loss at Toronto on June 7.Kendrys Morales hit one of the Blue Jays’ homers against the Orioles on Tuesday to add to the two he hit in the series opener on Monday. He has homered in three consecutive games for the third time in his career. The other two times were in 2016.He also had an RBI single in going 3-for-4 on Tuesday.Morales had overcome a poor start and now is batting .257 with 17 homers and 47 RBIs. He was slashing .188/.260/.312 on June 5.“He’s dangerous http://www.bluejaysfanproshop.com/authentic-devon-travis-jersey , he’s always dangerous,” Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said. “But he works hard, too. He’s the first guy here just about every day, he spends his day in the cage. If anybody was going to come out of it, it was him.”Billy McKinney hit his first career home run for the Blue Jays.Toronto center fielder Kevin Pillar was 1-for-4 with a double and has an eight-game hit streak, batting .419 with six doubles, one home run and eight RBIs during the streak.The Blue Jays scored seven of their runs and hit three of their homers against Orioles starter Dylan Bundy. The Orioles also suffered defensive lapses behind him, making two errors.“We’ve got to make some plays behind him,” Orioles manager Buck Showalter said. “But his finish http://www.bluejaysfanproshop.com/authentic-roy-halladay-jersey , the shape of his pitches, that’s very unlike Dylan. This is probably the toughest stretch that he’s had. It seems like every mistake he makes he’s paying a price for it.”Cedric Mullins hit his second career homer for the Orioles in going 1-for-4 on Tuesday. He hit his first big-league homer on Saturday at Cleveland. He has reached base in 10 of his first 11 major league games since making his debut Aug. 10 and is batting .333 (13-for-39) with five doubles, two homers and four RBIs.