Howard pitches as Rockies extend NL West lead

Sam Howard made his second appearance of the year for Colorado Monday night and worked a scoreless ninth inning as the Rockies blew out the visiting Arizona Diamondbacks 13-2 at Coors Field.

Howard retired Christian Walker on a ground out to start his frame, but then gave up a ground ball single to center field by Patrick Kivlehan. He then retired Chris Steward and Nick Ahmed on fly outs to complete the inning.

Howard’s one inning helped wrap up a victory that extended the Rockies NL West lead to 1-1/2 games over the Los Angeles Dodgers and 3-1/2 games over the D-backs.

Rockies starter German Marquez fanned 11 and allowed only one earned run to gain the pitching win. Trevor Story’s sixth home run in the last seven games and David Dahl’s first career grand slam helped Colorado build their huge lead.

The appearance was Howard's second in the Major Leagues. The Cartersville native had a previous shutout inning June 10 also against the Diamondbacks.

Howard is a fifth-year professional, selected in the 3rd round of the 2014 MLB draft by Colorado. The 25-year-old southpaw made 21 starts in 2018 for the Rockies' Triple A Pacific Coast League affiliate, Albuquerque Isotopes.