Rockies' Jason Marquis beats Dodgers with 2-hitter

[July 01, 2009]  LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Jason Marquis pitched a two-hitter to become the first 10-game winner in the National League, leading the Colorado Rockies over the Los Angeles Dodgers 3-0 on Tuesday night.

Marquis delivered a two-run single at the plate and outpitched Chad Billingsley in a matchup of potential All-Stars. Brad Hawpe homered for the resurgent Rockies, who set a franchise record for wins in a month with 21.

Marquis (10-5) tied Kevin Slowey, Zack Greinke, Roy Halladay and Tim Wakefield for the major league lead in wins, facing two batters more than the minimum and throwing just 86 pitches in his third career shutout.

The complete game was his sixth in 214 career starts and second this season.

The Rockies' 30-year-old right-hander did not issue a walk and retired 19 consecutive batters between James Loney's one-out single in the second and Juan Castro's two-out single in the eighth. He became the fourth pitcher in club history to win 10 games before the All-Star break, joining Kevin Ritz (1996), Shawn Chacon (2003) and Aaron Cook (2008).

It was quite a turnaround for Marquis, who allowed seven earned runs over 3 1-3 innings last Wednesday against the Angels in Anaheim. He is 5-0 with a 1.84 ERA in his last eight starts against the Dodgers going back to Sept. 4, 2004.

Billingsley (9-4) gave up three runs and five hits in 7 2-3 innings and tied a season high with 11 strikeouts -- two more than he had in his previous three starts combined. He threw 118 pitches.

The right-hander, coming off consecutive no-decisions in which he was staked to a lead of three or more runs both times, matched zeros with Marquis through three innings before Hawpe homered on the first pitch with one out in the fourth.

Marquis gave himself a little breathing room in the seventh, stroking a bases-loaded single to left for a 3-0 lead after a two-out walk to Chris Iannetta. Marquis is a .207 career hitter with 46 RBIs and five home runs.

Colorado was 14 games behind the NL West-leading Dodgers on May 27 after getting swept in a three-game series at Chavez Ravine and outscored 31-13.

Two days later, Clint Hurdle was fired as manager and bench coach Jim Tracy took over. The Rockies are 24-8 since, and they climbed within 7 1/2 games of first place following their 21st victory in 25 games.

Colorado has gone from 10 games under .500 to five above, winning 14 of 17 on the road. The Rockies' surge is reminiscent of the team's 21-1 run to the 2007 World Series.

The Dodgers have lost five of seven.

NOTES: Tracy's five-year stint as Dodgers manager ended in 2005. ... The first six innings were played in 73 minutes. ... The Rockies are a major league-best 29-6 when scoring first. ... Dodgers 2B Orlando Hudson, 1 for 15 against Marquis, got the night off. So did Rockies 3B Garrett Atkins, who is 1 for 17 against Billingsley. ... The Rockies became the first NL team with 19 wins from their starting rotation in one month since the 1985 New York Mets.

[Associated Press]

Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.