Tulowitzki, Barmes lead Rockies to 10-1 rout of Bucs

DENVER (AP) — Jim Tracy thinks his middle infielders have few equals offensively or defensively, and Troy Tulowitzki and Clint Barmes backed up their manager’s words.

Jason Marquis allowed three hits over seven innings, Tulowitzki and Barmes homered and the Colorado Rockies beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 10-1 on Thursday.

Dexter Fowler had four hits — three of them doubles — and scored three runs, and Barmes finished with three hits and three RBIs for the Rockies, who won the final two games of the three-game series.

Tulowitzki, who replaced Barmes as the starting shortstop two years ago, has 23 homers, one short of his rookie season total. Barmes has a career-high 17 homers.

“That’s 40 home runs for the middle infield, and oh-by-the-way gold-glove defense,” Tracy said. “I think the only other tandem you can speak of in that vein would be the two guys that play over in Philadelphia. We have something special going on.”

Tulowitzki, who has 18 homers since June 8, doesn’t worry about the Rockies’ defense being compared to other teams.

“What I know and what I’m happy with is we both care about defense and we’re going to play the game the right way,” he said. “Let everybody else decide if we’re the best defensive duo.”

Jimmy Rollins and Chase Utley have one thing their counterparts in Colorado want — the World Series title the Phillies won last year. Barmes thinks this Rockies team, which leads the NL wild-card race by 11‚Ñ2 games over San Francisco, can get back to the postseason.

“Hopefully this continues and we keep playing into October,” he said. “That’s the No. 1 goal.”

The Rockies’ pitching staff will have a lot to do with that.

Marquis (13-8) showed the form that earned him an All-Star selection this year by becoming the third pitcher in the National League to reach 13 wins. He’d been 0-2 in his previous three starts, but gave up one run and struck out six with three walks Thursday.

“It’s nice any time whether it’s one, two, three or four, whatever number it is,” Marquis said of his 13 wins. “I’m glad I got back on track. I still have work to do.”

The right-hander got support early from his offense. Fowler led off the first with a double, moved to third on Barmes’ single and scored on Todd Helton’s double-play groundout. Tulowitzki followed with his 23rd homer of the season to make it 2-0.

The Rockies made it 3-0 when Fowler doubled in the third and scored on Barmes’ single.

“To get some early runs, it made it a little easier,” Marquis said.

The Pirates scored on Andrew McCutchen’s sacrifice fly in the fifth.