PITTSBURGH (AP) — Germán Márquez is a winner with the San Diego Padres.
The right-hander pitched five effective innings in Monday night's 5-0 victory at Pittsburgh. He allowed six hits, struck out four and walked one in his second start with his new team.
It was his first win since June 18 for Colorado at Washington.
“It’s been a while, man,” Márquez said.
The 31-year-old Márquez is trying to rebuild his career with San Diego. He won a spot in the team's rotation after agreeing to a minor league deal in February.
Márquez spent his first 10 seasons with Colorado, going 68-72 with a 4.67 ERA in 200 starts and three relief appearances. He missed most of the 2023 and 2024 seasons due to Tommy John surgery, and then struggled in his final year with the lowly Rockies.
Márquez went 3-16 with a 6.70 ERA in 26 starts in 2025. He recorded his first win of last season on May 11.
Colorado finished with a 43-119 record, setting a franchise record for losses.
Márquez dropped his first start with San Diego when he surrendered four runs and eight hits in three innings in a 9-3 loss to San Francisco last week.
He threw 92 pitches against Pittsburgh, 56 for strikes. He got some help from Gold Glove outfielder Fernando Tatis Jr., who cut down Ryan O'Hearn when he attempted to score from second on Spencer Horwitz's single in the second.
The Pirates put a runner on third with one out in the fifth, but Márquez escaped the jam when he retired Brandon Lowe on a popup to third and Bryan Reynolds on a flyball to left.
“A couple breaks went his way, and then he finished strong, too,” Padres manager Craig Stammen said. “So got that breaking ball going. That’s key for him doing well.”
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San Diego Padres pitcher Germán Márquez delivers during the first inning of a baseball game against the Pittsburgh Pirates in Pittsburgh, Monday, April 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)
San Diego Padres pitcher Germán Márquez delivers during the first inning of a baseball game against the Pittsburgh Pirates in Pittsburgh, Monday, April 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — High-scoring Michigan had to get down and dirty to dig out the national title Monday, making only two 3-pointers all night but still muscling its way to a 69-63 victory over stingy, stubborn UConn.
Elliot Cadeau led the Wolverines with 19 points, including the team’s first 3, which came 7:04 into the second half. The second, from freshman Trey McKenney, came with 1:50 left and felt like a dagger, giving the coach Dusty May's team full of transfers a nine-point lead.
To no one’s surprise, UConn fought to the finish. Solo Ball banked in a 3 to cut it to four with 37 seconds left — and after two missed free throws, UConn’s Alex Karaban (17 points) barely grazed the rim on a 3 that would’ve cut the deficit to one with 17 seconds left.
Michigan also got outrebounded 22-12 on the offensive glass by a UConn team that would not go away. Not until McKenney sank two free throws to bring Michigan’s shooting from the line to 25 for 28 for the night could the Wolverines (37-3) kick off the celebration for the program’s second title — the other coming in 1989.
But this game had a 1950s feel to it.
“If you’d told me we would shoot it this poorly and (be) dominated on the glass and still find a way to win, I don’t know if I would have believed you," May said. "This team just found a way all season.”
Michigan had to fight for everything. The Wolverines missed their first 11 shots from 3, finished 2 for 15 from there and won despite the struggles of their best player, Yaxel Lendeborg. Ailing with a hurt knee and foot that kept him from elevating, the graduate transfer from UAB finished with 13 points on 4-of-13 shooting.
Truth be told, it wasn’t anyone’s prettiest night.
UConn’s hopes at becoming the first team since John Wooden’s UCLA dynasty to win three titles in four seasons came up short, done in by massive foul trouble and its own terrible shooting.
Coach Dan Hurley’s team shot 30.9% from the floor and missed its first 11 shots from 3 in the second half.
Braylon Mullins, the hero of the Duke win that put UConn in the Final Four, finished 4 of 17, though he made a pair of late 3s that kept the game in reach.
UConn (35-5) covered the 6 1/2-point spread, and Hurley kept his players out on the court to watch the podium get set up for the presentation of a trophy heading not to Storrs, but Ann Arbor.
About the only consolation: The Huskies clogged things up, slowed things down and made Michigan beat them at their game.
The Wolverines came in as the first team to crack 90 points in five straight high-flying tournament blowouts. They didn’t hit 70 in this one but, in almost every way, it was the prettiest of them all — the one that gives them what even Michigan’s most famous teams, the Fab Five, couldn’t manage — namely, a natty.
Style points aside, this was a championship built from outside — the best team money could buy.
All five Wolverines starters played college ball elsewhere, and all but Nimari Burnett came to Ann Arbor this season. That’s the product of the transfer portal that May has shown no reluctance to use. His ability to form a makeshift group into a winner is still the value of a coach and a culture.
“They might be still calling us mercenaries but we’re the hardest-working team,” Lendenborg said. “We’re the best in college basketball and we’ll be one of the greatest ever.”
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Members of Michigan celebrate after defeating UConn in the NCAA college basketball tournament national championship game at the Final Four, Monday, April 6, 2026, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)
Michigan's Nimari Burnett (4) and Morez Johnson Jr. celebrate after defeating UConn in the NCAA college basketball tournament national championship game at the Final Four, Monday, April 6, 2026, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)
Michigan forward Yaxel Lendeborg walks to his bench during a time out during the second half of the NCAA college basketball tournament national championship game against UConn at the Final Four, Monday, April 6, 2026, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)
UConn's Tarris Reed Jr. (5) grabs a rebound as Michigan's Elliot Cadeau (3) falls and UConn's Silas Demary Jr. (2) and Michigan's Morez Johnson Jr. (21) watch during the second half of the NCAA college basketball tournament national championship game at the Final Four, Monday, April 6, 2026, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)
UConn head coach Dan Hurley reacts during the second half of the NCAA college basketball tournament national championship game against Michigan at the Final Four, Monday, April 6, 2026, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)
Michigan's Yaxel Lendeborg watches from the bench during the second half of the NCAA college basketball tournament national championship game against UConn at the Final Four, Monday, April 6, 2026, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)
Michigan's Trey McKenney, left, and Elliot Cadeau celebrate during the second half of the NCAA college basketball tournament national championship game against UConn at the Final Four, Monday, April 6, 2026, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)
UConn guard Silas Demary Jr. celebrates after the second half of an NCAA college basketball tournament semifinal game against Illinois at the Final Four, Saturday, April 4, 2026, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)
Michigan's Aday Mara (15) reacts during the second half of an NCAA college basketball tournament semifinal game against Arizona at the Final Four, Saturday, April 4, 2026, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)
