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The Giants are returning to a semblance of health, with Johnny Cueto and Mike Yastrzemski expected to be activated this weekend. They’re returning home and should be able to rest, an off day Thursday before a five-game homestand beginning Friday, which will be much needed for Brandon Crawford (calf) and Alex Dickerson (shoulder) and plenty more, maybe including Buster Posey, who worryingly left the game in the seventh inning.
Their beaten-down roster would celebrate any destination, though, that is not Coors Field and Colorado.
Another rain delay pushed back game time, and the Giants’ pitching watched the Rockies use a flurry of fourth-inning hits to erase a lead and drop the Giants, 6-5, in the series finale Wednesday, the Giants finishing a disappointing 2-4 road trip with plenty of regrets.
They could have beaten the Padres on Friday if Darin Ruf’s drive to right was straightened out just a few feet more. They should have closed the door on Colorado in Tuesday’s second half of the doubleheader, when the Rockies posted a six-run, walk-off seventh inning. They certainly looked promising enough in the early innings Wednesday, and they rallied late to make it interesting. But when Logan Webb saw the lineup for a second time, and he went from rolling to stumbling.
The Giants (18-13) still will finish the day in first place in the NL West, the Dodgers and Padres playing later and a full game back of Gabe Kapler’s crew after the Giants’ loss. But a team that is not as talented as the Dodgers and Padres cannot afford to let many winnable games and series become should’ve-beens.
It unraveled in the fourth after Webb had retired the first 10 Rockies batters he saw. But when he saw them a second time, he was prevented from seeing them a third. Five straight Rockies reached base, including a two-run single from Tuesday’s villain, Charlie Blackmon, that tied the game, 2-2. After Webb walked Matt Adams and Alan Trejo, which scored a run, the Giants were down 3-2 and Webb had thrown 38 pitches in the frame. He was lifted for Matt Wisler, who turned a jam into a mess.
He allowed all those inherited runners to score. His first pitch — to opposing starter Jon Gray — was a hanging slider batted into center for another run. Raimel Tapia followed with the same single to make it 6-2. Ryan Hampson put a good swing on a hanging slider from the struggling righty, too, but it was tracked down deep in right.
With Cueto returning, it’s likely Webb will be transitioned back to relief, which is an area for need for the Giants. Yet, he certainly wanted to send a message that he was capable of staying in the rotation.
The Giants mounted a rally in the seventh with a few shots to right field. First Steven Duggar (who has looked much better since being recalled) lined a triple off the wall, before Ruf one-upped him and cleared the wall to close the gap to 6-4.
They would get a bit closer in the ninth. They put two on without an out — including on a Wilmer Flores walk, an at-bat in which he fouled a ball off his left knee and Mauricio Dubon took first instead — but Curt Casali was rung up on a full-count check swing that infuriated him and the Giants dugout. (Alex Wood was tossed.)
After Duggar struck out, they put on the double-steal, and the Rockies threw wildly to second, which scored Crawford and advanced Dubon to third. But Ruf tapped out to end it.
Casali’s would have been Posey’s at-bat, but the sizzling starter was removed to begin the seventh. The Giants did not have an immediate update.
They wasted nice relief efforts from Sam Selman, Zack Littell and Caleb Baragar and another big day from Crawford.
Brandon Crawford has reached base all seven times he’s stepped up to the plate this series, and he just hit his 2nd home run ? pic.twitter.com/qGPhLDXPpE
— KNBR (@KNBR) May 5, 2021
The shortstop entered the series banged up, a calf contusion keeping him out of the lineup for a few games. But once he started playing, he couldn’t be kept off the bases. He had reached base safely in the first eight times he stepped to the plate in the series, including a two-run shot in the second, his sixth of the year.
One longtime Giant took a step up, and the Giants hope another didn’t take a step back.