Across 37 innings in Coors Field, where pitchers’ ERAs go to die, the Giants allowed nine earned runs.
San Francisco (73-77) ran out a bullpen game for the second time this week and completely shut down Colorado in a 3-0 victory. The win capped a four-game series sweep — the Giants’ seventh sweep of at least three games of 2022.
Brebbia opened the all-hands pen game with his eighth start. Like each of the previous seven, he pitched a scoreless first. In his first full year after Tommy John surgery, he’s been the rock of San Francisco’s bullpen, leading MLB with 72 appearances.
Tyler Rogers was next, and he danced around traffic on the basepaths to keep Colorado at zero. The submariner still hasn’t allowed a run in September.
After Jarlin García provided 2.1 strong innings, Jharel Cotton became the 63rd player to wear a Giants uniform this season — one off the single-season franchise record.
Cotton retired two hitters to end the fifth and strand a runner at second. Then he worked around a leadoff double, aided by a shoestring catch from Mike Yastrzemski in center. The snag saved a run for Cotton and ended the sixth inning.
By then, San Francisco built a 2-0 lead with Joc Pederson’s RBI single in the first inning and Yastrzemski’s solo blast in the sixth. The latter was Yastrzemski’s second of the week and 14th of the year.
San Francisco added another run in the seventh when LaMonte Wade Jr. drove in Luis González from second with a two-out lined single. In a frustrating season for Wade, the outfielder entered Thursday hitting .105 with two outs and runners in scoring position.
Cotton ended the bottom of the seventh with another double play — this one of a more traditional variety. He finished his Giants debut with 2.2 clean innings.
In the eighth, one of Brandon Crawford’s most impressive plays of his career helped Scott Alexander keep the score 3-0.
And then in the ninth, Camilo Doval continued to throw unhittable pitches. By retiring the side, he extended his scoreless appearance streak to nine.
Limiting the Rockies’ offense in this environment, even if Colorado’s season is even more lost than San Francisco’s, is no easy feat. At home, the Rockies average 5.75 runs per game — which would be the best offense in MLB. They’d only been shutout at home three times before Thursday.
But six Giants relievers added another donut.