Rockies' bats quieted as Bryant remains out

PHOENIX -- The Rockies found little offense while dropping two of three games to the D-backs at Chase Field, with a 4-0 loss on Sunday afternoon tipping the series Arizona's way. Colorado scored in only two of the 27 innings. The biggest offensive news came from Kris Bryant, who didn't play in any of the games.

The Rockies (16-12) will still be above .500 regardless of what happens in their three-game set in San Francisco that starts Monday, but there are questions.

Was the .200/.245/.230 slash line against the D-backs a sign that the Rockies are going to deal with road struggles again? They’ve dropped six of their past seven away games. Was it more that Colorado ran into a hot Arizona rotation, with Zac Gallen (0.95 ERA) holding the Rox scoreless over seven innings on Sunday? All that will be answered over time, so let's deal with the information at hand.

Here are three takeaways:

1. Bryant hopes cortisone injection will speed his healing
Bryant last played on April 25, before going to the injured list with a lower back strain. After almost two weeks of rest, strengthening and playing catch, Bryant felt the problem was deeper than the muscles, so he will receive a cortisone injection on Monday from Dr. Christopher Yeung, a noted back specialist who has been associated with the D-backs and baseball players for decades.

Bryant will give the area a couple days to calm down before returning to his rehab program.

“I felt like I wasn’t seeing enough progress quicker,” said Bryant, who saw Yeung on Friday. “And me being impatient, me doing that [Monday] would be the best.”

Bryant said when his recovery and strengthening are complete, he might need a couple Minor League rehab games for timing.

With Bryant out, Sam Hilliard has received increased work in the outfield. While Hilliard has dropped his strikeout and chase rates and has increased his walk rate, he’s hitting .163 with no homers. If Hilliard finds his power, the Rockies can live with a less-than-ideal batting average. Yonathan Daza singled Sunday and is hitting .351 in 37 at-bats, so his playing time could increase.

2. Márquez takes step toward good form
Right-hander Germán Márquez allowed four runs (three earned) in six innings Sunday. Two of the runs scored on a Jose Herrera bouncer over the first-base bag that resulted in a double, while another scored when Márquez was charged with an error on a pickoff throw that bounced off the edge of first baseman C.J. Cron’s glove.

Márquez fanned seven against four walks, with some borderline pitches not going his way.

“I’m working for that,” Márquez said. “I like to strike out guys. I felt better today. Everything was good.”

Márquez’s ERA sits at 6.47. But Sunday -- when he backed away from increased usage of his four-seam fastball and went to his more familiar sinker/slider/curveball mix -- was his best outing since he held the Dodgers to one run in seven innings on April 9.

“A lot of times you win games like [Sunday's], but the story was their guy pitched better,” Rockies manager Bud Black said. “He was outstanding. I liked [Márquez’s] stuff. He was crisper with his fastball. Slider was good. He got outpitched by their guy.”

Márquez acknowledged his main miss during the D-backs’ three-run second was a fastball that Nick Ahmed knocked through the middle to drive in the game's first run. A little better location could have resulted in a double-play grounder that would have meant a scoreless frame.

3. Do they lament the zeros or understand they had chances?
The Rockies had runners at second and third with one out in the first inning before Gallen struck out their main RBI producer, Cron, and induced a Ryan McMahon groundout. Colorado also couldn’t score with one out and two runners on in the fifth.

That seemed to be the series against the D-backs, who sent two starters with sub-2.00 ERAs (Gallen and Merrill Kelly) to the mound this weekend. The Rockies won on Saturday, despite not scoring in 6 1/3 innings against Arizona starter Zach Davies.

“They’re throwing the ball well; they have been doing that all season,” McMahon said.

Monday night will bring another challenging matchup, as the Rockies will face Giants lefty Carlos Rodon (1.55 ERA). Lefty Alex Wood (Tuesday) and righty Alex Cobb (Wednesday) have pedigree, but both have ERAs above 4.00 this season.