The Rockies offense was kept quiet by Madison Bumgarner through six innings, but the bats finally woke up, scoring seven runs off the Giant's bullpen. The Rockies 7-3 victory snapped a dreadful six-game losing streak.
The Giants got on the scoreboard early, scoring a run in the bottom of the first inning. Angel Pagan reached base safely after Mark Reynolds made a terrible throw to Tyler Chatwood who was covering first base after a ground ball. Jarret Parker then advanced Pagan on a grounder to short, and Brandon Belt drove him in with a soft line drive to center field.
Meanwhile, the Rockies were doing their best to apply pressure against Madison Bumgarner. In the top of the third, DJ LeMahieu doubled, followed by a four-pitch walk to Nolan Arenado. Carlos Gonzalez then hit a hard grounder to shortstop that somehow stayed in the infield, keeping LeMahieu from scoring. With the bases loaded and two out, Trevor Story launched a deep fly ball to right field -- which would have cleared the bases if it dropped -- but it was caught by sliding right fielder Mac Williamson to end the inning.
The Giants tacked on one more run in the bottom of the fifth, when Angel Pagan scored from third on a passed ball by Nick Hundley. Luckily for the Rockies, Hundley would later make up for the mistake.
Tyler Chatwood pitched just five innings on 88 pitches, but allowed just one earned run while striking out four and walking four.
After six dominant innings from Bumgarner, the Rockies offense finally started to click.
With George Kontos on in relief, Mark Reynolds and Nick Hundley lined back-to-back singles to start the rally. With a runner at first and third and two outs, LeMahieu bounced a ball hard off home plate, but managed drive in a run and make it to first base safely. This was all the Rockies needed to kick off a rally.
With two on and two out, Nolan Arenado stepped up to the plate. Before I tell you what happens next, take a look at these numbers heading into tonight's game:
Nolan Arenado vs. the Giants: 262 PA, .996 OPS
Nolan Arenado in San Francisco: 114 PA, 1.012 OPS
Arenado promptly launched a ball over the center-field fence, giving the Rockies a much needed 4-2 lead.
The very next inning, Angel Pagan and catcher Nick Hundley got into an argument at home plate (seemingly over a pitch that was called a ball that was clearly a strike). After Pagan struck out, him and Hundley continued to have words as Pagan walked back to the dugout.
With the Rockies fired up, they continued to thrive offensively the very next inning, scoring on RBI singles from Hundley, Blackmon, and a bases loaded walk by LeMahieu. The Rockies had a 7-2 lead heading into the bottom of the eighth.
Adam Ottavino, making his first appearance since April of 2015 after undergoing Tommy John surgery, threw multiple sliders and fastballs to Buster Posey, and ultimately made him ground out to short. Walt Weiss then elected to bring in Boone Logan and Jason Motte to finish off the inning, and they combined to allow one run, giving the Rockies a 7-3 lead heading into the ninth.
Carlos Estevez came on in the ninth and pitched a clean ninth inning to secure the victory.