After an uncharacteristic start to the season, things are beginning to come together for Germán Márquez. And now, Márquez has etched himself in the Rockies record books.

He struck out Cameron Maybin for his 700th career strikeout in the third inning against the Mets on Thursday, becoming the fastest pitcher in franchise history to reach that milestone, and sixth overall. He joins Jorge De La Rosa (985), Ubaldo Jiménez (773), Pedro Astacio (749), Jeff Francis (742) and Jon Gray (740) on that list.

Márquez also has the most strikeouts in his first 120 games of any Venezuelan born player with 702, passing Félix Hernández, who is one of Márquez’s favorite pitchers.

“It feels good,” he said. “It’s a cool feeling to be around those kinds of numbers.”

Márquez threw six strikeouts, but the Rockies couldn’t provide any run support as they fell to the Mets 1-0 in the first game of the doubleheader. Márquez needed just 62 pitches to get through six innings, as he pitched a complete game for the second time this season, the other also coming during a seven-inning double header.

He struggled with fastball command early in the season and more recently had some flare-ups with his slider. Entering Thursday, Márquez led the National League in walks with 31.

He’s worked with pitching coach Steve Foster to control that tempo. They timed his windup, from the first movement to the time the ball comes out of his hand, to figure out the best rhythm for him. His fastball took a couple innings to reach his usual velocity on Thursday, but once it did it had good action to it. The breaking ball also showed great improvement.

“I think right now I have the right timing,” Márquez said. “You can see everything was good today. Good command for all my pitches.”

Márquez has been with the Rockies since 2016, and has made all of his major league starts for the team. He was their opening day starter for the second season in a row this year.

Manager Bud Black has noticed a new level of maturity from Márquez. Aside from his talent on the field, he’s taken on more of a leadership role, impressing his teammates with the way he goes about his daily work.

“You know when he walks in the door,” Black said. “I think other players notice that he’s in the room, that you know, you feel good about him because he goes about it the right way. He’s very good every day, not just the day that he pitches.”