Colorado Rockies spring notebook: Marquez, Rolison shine vs. White Sox

Glendale, Ariz. — The Colorado Rockies got seven shutout innings from four different pitchers on Sunday afternoon to post a 1-0 win over the Chicago White Sox at sun-splashed Camelback Ranch.

While Tyler Kinley and Phillip Diehl each pitched hitless frames to end the game (earning the hold and save, respectively), let’s focus on the first five innings of the contest as German Marquez and Ryan Rolison made their spring debuts in impressive style, combining to scatter four hits over those frames.

Marquez, bidding to be the team’s Opening Day starter for the second consecutive year, looked solid, spreading three hits over three innings while striking out one and walking one. After a leadoff infield single from Tim Anderson to open the game, Marquez induced a double play and struck out Jose Abreu to end the inning.

The pattern was what Marquez and the Rockies hope to see in the regular season in the event of the leadoff runner reaching.

“It was good to make my pitch and get that pitch for a double play,” Marquez said. “When I’m patient, I feel like I’m pitching good.”

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Ryan Rolison took over for Marquez in the fourth and gave up just one hit in his two innings of work. However, one of the perhaps most intriguing moments of the game came from that hit and Rolison’s work to keep the runner from scoring.

Yoan Moncada opened the fourth with a double to right, then advanced to third on a flyout to right from Eloy Jimenez. Buckling down, the 23-year-old Rolison got Zack Collins to hit a short fly to left that couldn’t score Moncada, then finished off the frame with Yermin Mercedes hitting a soft liner back to the mound.

“A year older and another year of maturity,” Colorado manager Bud Black said of Rolison after the game. “He worked on a lot in alternate camp with his delivery with our pitching coaches and I think we’ve seen the fruits of that.”

We will have an article in the morning discussing Kinley and Diehl and their status with the Rockies bullpen and what Sunday’s efforts could mean for the Opening Day roster, so keep an eye out for that. Note: And here’s the link to that article.