© Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports
Yesterday, the Giants and Colorado Rockies combined for 17 runs. Today, the Rockies kept scoring, while the Giants’ bats fell asleep. Dereck Rodriguez and German Marquez had lights-out starts on either side, but the Rockies broke through to beat the Giants 6-2 once the bullpen took over in disastrous fashion.
Rodriguez was pulled after six innings of one-run, five-strikeout baseball for Reyes Moronta in for the seventh. He struck out the pinch-hitting Gerardo Parra to open the inning, but the next pinch-hitter caused serious damage and started a nightmarish chain of events for the Giants’ bullpen.
First, the 23-year-old Ryan McMahon torched a ball over the center field fence to tie the game at 2-2. Then Charlie Blackmon chopped a ball high off the ground in front of home plate to reach first base on an odd infield single. Moronta walked DJ LeMahieu before throwing a wild pitch to Nolan Arenado. He then intentionally walked Arenado and was pulled for Ty Blach.
With the bases loaded, Blach left a ball low to the low-ball hitting and free-swinging Carlos Gonzalez, who hit a bases-clearing triple. Blach intentionally walked Trevor story before striking out David Dahl, but at that point, his night was over and the Giants trailed by three.
Sam Dyson came in to face Ian Desmond and walked him on six pitches. Then, Dyson committed one of the most embarrassing acts a pitcher can commit, walking Parra on five pitches to give away a run and put the Rockies up 6-2.
That bullpen implosion wasted both Rodriguez’s start and the early lead the Giants created in the first inning. Gregor Blanco led the game off with a single and a stolen base. Joe Panik followed suit with a single, scoring Blanco from second to put the Giants up 1-0. It seemed primed for a high-run affair like last night, but the game progressed in stark contrast from last night’s hitting onslaught.
While not the six home run explosion from last night’s game, Coors Field maintained its reputation for being a hitters’ park, with three home runs coming tonight. The first homer for the Rockies was picked up in the second inning. To lead it off, Dahl took Rodriguez over the wall in right-center field, tying the game at 1-1.
Marquez was nearly unhittable, striking out 11 Giants batters. It’s the third time in the last four games the Giants have been struck out 11 times by a starter after Steven Matz and Noah Syndergaard of the New York Mets did it on back-to-back days this weekend. After Nick Hundley singled and was caught stealing and Marquez struck out Chris Shaw, it seemed like the Giants were about to put up another scoreless inning.
But Gorkys Hernandez struck the Rockies again, picking up his (tied for) team-leading 15th home run of the year, and his second homer in back-to-back days. It gave the Giants a 2-1 lead and a potential win for Rodriguez, but that dream of a win was shattered almost immediately after Rodriguez was pulled.
Gorky's gives the Giants the lead pic.twitter.com/z1YoByZVle
— SF Giants on NBCS (@NBCSGiants) September 5, 2018
The newly-promoted Ryder Jones pinch-hit for Rodriguez in the top of the seventh. Gregor Blanco followed the single with a walk, ending Marquez’s night after 6 2/3 innings. Chris Rusin relieved Marquez to get out Panik, who, despite stepping in 2-for-3 on the day, grounded softly to first to end the inning.
While the Rockies teed off on the Giants’ bullpen, the Giants (68-72) were silenced after the seventh, falling four games below .500.