Rockies look to stay hot as Blue Jays arrive
The Toronto Blue Jays understandably will be focused on facing German Marquez when the Colorado Rockies right-hander takes the mound on Friday night. The visiting Blue Jays also should be thinking about how to pitch him when he steps to the plate. Marquez has been Colorado's best pitcher this season, going 5-2 with a 3.56 ERA, but he has been a pretty good hitter, too, especially in May. Marquez is hitting .444 in his four starts in the month and has nine RBIs, which is the most by a pitcher in one month in 46 years. He had three RBIs in Sunday's win over Baltimore, including a two-run triple that gave the Rockies a 5-1 lead in the fifth inning. They won in a walk-off in the ninth inning, long after Marquez was lifted, but after the game his teammates praised his hitting technique. "His head barely moves," third baseman Nolan Arenado said. "It never moves. It looks like he has all this movement but his head never moves. As hitters, you watch that." The Rockies' hitters have been doing well on their own. They have won five straight after a four-game sweep of Arizona and have won four of their last seven home games in their last at-bat. It's likely Toronto's starter on Friday, Edwin Jackson, will be more concerned with Arenado and a few other Colorado hitters when the teams start a three-game interleague series. Jackson is a seasoned veteran who has pitched for 14 franchises -- a league record he set two weeks ago when he made his debut with Toronto. In his 17-year career, has faced the Rockies plenty of times but this will be his first as a member of the Blue Jays. Jackson (0-2, 9.00) is 2-4 in 15 career games -- 12 of them starts -- against Colorado and has compiled a 9.63 ERA. Seven of those games and six of his starts against the Rockies have come at Coors Field, where he has yet to record a victory. He is 0-3 with a 12.71 ERA in Denver. Jackson has made just three starts since being acquired from Oakland on May 11 and he will be asked to slow down a Colorado team that is 6-1 on its 10-game homestand. The Blue Jays are heading in the opposite direction. They have lost three in a row and eight of their last 10. They had an off day Thursday following a loss in extra innings to Tampa Bay. Toronto had 11 runners left on base and was 2-for-16 with runners in scoring position, a struggle that has plagued the Blue Jays all season. "We're just not there right now, but we're going to get there," manager Charlie Montoyo said after the loss to the Rays. "We've had our chances, but it's kind of been like that the whole time. Sooner or later, we're going to get (timely runs). I've seen it. When you become good, those runs come in and you don't leave runners on base." --Field Level Media |