The Twins enjoyed a stroll in the ballpark Sunday, waltzing to a 7-1 victory over the walk-happy Rockies.

Colorado pitchers issued four leadoff walks — three by starter German Marquez, who departed early with shoulder inflammation — and Minnesota hit four home runs, denying Colorado a rare three-game sweep at Coors Field.

Colorado (24-75 overall, 12-37 at home) was searching for its first series sweep in LoDo since May 10-12, 2024.

Marquez, a possible trade candidate as the July 31 deadline nears, was off his game from the beginning and departed after just three innings. He said after the game that he has “inflammation” in his right shoulder, adding that he may miss his next start. If that happens, or if Marquez has to go on the injured list, it could put a crimp in any plans the Rockies have to trade the veteran right-hander. Marquez is in the final months of his contract.

“I’m feeling a little bit of inflammation in the front of my shoulder,” Marquez said. “It started bugging me when I pitched in Cincinnati (on July 11) and I didn’t recover well. I couldn’t get hot (today). And my velo was down, too.”

Asked if he was concerned about the shoulder, he said, “No. I feel like it was just tight,” adding that it’s the first time he’s experienced shoulder inflammation.

Marquez said he had not yet met with head trainer Keith Dugger.

“He just couldn’t get loose today. That was pretty much it,” Rockies manager Warren Schaeffer said. “That wasn’t the normal ‘Marky’ out there today. We removed him for precaution. (The shoulder) was tightening up between innings a little bit.”

Meanwhile, Twins All-Star right-hander Joe Ryan had no problems in his second career start at Coors, allowing one run and striking out 11 over seven innings. All told, the Rockies fanned 13 times.

Ryan generated 13 swings and misses, prompting Schaeffer to say, “He’s got one of the best fastballs in the game. He beat us with his heater today. We had no answer for him.”

All-Star catcher Hunter Goodman, the designated hitter on Sunday, was also impressed by Ryan.

“He had good command of the fastball today and he put it wherever he wanted to throw it,” said Goodman, who went 0 for 4 with three strikeouts. “His heater has a ton of ride, and it’s hard to get solid contact on it.”

Marquez looked off-kilter from the beginning. He walked Trevor Larnach to open the game, issued a one-out walk to Carlos Correa, and gave up a single to Cody Clemens, loading the bases. But Marquez escaped when Ty France grounded back to Marquez, who threw home for the force out. Then Marquez struck out Matt Wallner to escape the mess.

In the second, a leadoff walk by Harrison Bader and a one-out walk by Christian Vazquez had Marquez in trouble again. This time, Marquez escaped with a groundball double play.

But his good fortune ran out in the third. Will Castro reached on Marquez’s third leadoff walk and scored on Clemens’ triple into the right-field corner. A two-run homer by Wallner put Minnesota ahead 3-0. Marquez’s start tied for his second shortest of the season. His record dropped to 3-11, and his ERA rose to 5.67.

Ryan (10-4, 2.63 ERA) dominated. The only chink in his armor was Mickey Moniak’s two-out solo homer in the third. Ryan walked none and gave up just five hits.

Minnesota played Home Run Derby vs. the Rockies’ bullpen. Royce Lewis hit a leadoff homer off lefty Ryan Rolison in the fourth and a one-out solo homer off right-hander Jimmy Herget in the eighth. Bader launched a one-out solo shot off Rolison in the sixth.