Pablo Lopez won his first game this month, allowing no earned runs in seven innings while leading the host Miami Marlins to a 7-4 victory over the Colorado Rockies on Wednesday night.
Miami also got two-run homers from Garrett Cooper and Jazz Chisholm Jr. Jorge Soler added a solo blast.
Cooper is hitting .313 with five homers. Chisholm, who is leading National League second basemen in All-Star balloting, had a game-high three RBIs, and he has 14 homers and 11 steals this season. Soler has 13 dingers.
Lopez (5-3) allowed four hits, three walks and one unearned run. He threw 107 pitches and retired six batters by strikeout.
After going 3-0 with a 0.39 ERA in April, Lopez entered Wednesday with a 0-1 record and a 6.48 ERA in June. But he is now 3-0 in four career starts against Colorado.
Chad Kuhl (4-5) took the loss, allowing six hits, two walks and four runs in five innings. He is 0-5 in seven career games against Miami.
Austin Gomber, removed from Colorado’s rotation this week, pitched in relief for the first time this year, allowing three runs in 1 2/3 innings.
Colorado opened the scoring in the first as Yonathan Daza hit a leadoff double, advanced on Lopez’s throwing error on a pickoff attempt and scored on Charlie Blackmon’s sacrifice fly.
Miami batted around during a 40-pitch third inning, taking a 4-1 lead on Jon Berti’s RBI triple, Chisholm’s run-scoring single and Cooper’s two-run homer. The 40-pitch inning tied Kuhl’s career high.
In the seventh, Chisholm hit his homer to the upper deck in right, a blast estimated at 414 feet. Soler hit his homer three pitches later, a shot to center that traveled 403 feet.
With one out in the ninth, Elias Diaz slugged a three-run homer, closing Colorado’s deficit to 7-4.
But the Marlins, who have won two straight games, held on from there, improving to 17-14 at home.
Colorado, which has lost two straight, fell to 11-20 on the road.
The Marlins will go for the sweep on Thursday afternoon in a battle of left-handers: Miami’s Braxton Garrett (1-2, 4.85 ERA) against Colorado’s Kyle Freeland (3-5, 4.46 ERA).
–Field Level Media