The Twins enjoyed a stroll in the ballpark Sunday, waltzing to a 7-1 victory over the walk-happy Rockies.
Colorado pitchers issued four leadoff walks — three by starter German Marquez — and Minnesota hit four home runs, denying Colorado a rare three-game sweep at Coors Field.
Marquez, a possible trade candidate as the July 31 deadline nears, was off his game from the beginning and departed after just three innings. He said after the game that he has “inflammation” in his right shoulder, adding that he felt “a pinch” in front of his shoulder. He added that he may miss his next start.
Meanwhile, Twins All-Star right-hander Joe Ryan had no problems in his second career start at Coors, allowing one run and striking out 11 over seven innings.
Colorado (24-75) was searching for its first series sweep in LoDo since May 10-12, 2024.
Marquez looked off-kilter from the beginning. He walked Trevor Larnach to open the game, issued a one-out walk to Carlos Correa, and gave up a single to Cody Clemens, loading the bases. But Marquez escaped when Ty France grounded back to Marquez, who threw home for the force out. Then Marquez struck out Matt Wallner to escape the mess.
In the second, a leadoff walk by Harrison Bader and a one-out walk by Christian Vazquez had Marquez in trouble again. This time, Marquez escaped with a groundball double play.
But his good fortune ran out in the third. Will Castro reached on Marquez’s third leadoff walk and scored on Clemens’ triple into the right-field corner. A two-run homer by Wallner put Minnesota ahead 3-0. Marquez’s start tied for his second shortest of the season. His record dropped to 3-11, and his ERA rose to 5.67.
Ryan (10-4, 2.63 ERA) dominated Colorado. The only chink in his armor was Mickey Moniak’s two-out solo homer in the third. Ryan walked none and give up just five hits.
Minnesota played Home Run Derby vs. the Rockies’ bullpen. Royce Lewis hit a leadoff homer off lefty Ryan Rolison in the fourth and a one-out solo homer off right-hander Jimmy Herget in the eighth. Harrison Bader launched a one-out solo shot off Rolison in the sixth.
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