Rockies use big fourth inning to beat Giants 6-5

A wild fourth inning that featured a grand slam from Trevor Story and a bizarre inside-the-park home run by Charlie Blackmon gave the Rockies enough to edge the Giants on a cold and rainy Friday night at Coors Field. Tyler Chatwood was unspectacular but managed to work six innings for his second straight win.

Chatwood worked an efficient eight-pitch first inning, but he ran into trouble in the second, giving up three runs. Eduardo Nunez was robbed of a home run by the higher wall in right field and had to settle for an RBI double. Nunez scored later in the inning anyway on a Chris Marrero single, and Denard Span made it 3-0 with a single of his own.

Cueto, one of the all-time best performers at Coors Field, cruised through the first ten outs of the game, but then the Rockies hit him hard in the fourth. It started with a Carlos Gonzalez single, and Mark Reynolds and Gerardo Parra hit singles of their own. This brought up the slumping Trevor Story, who took the second pitch over the auxiliary scoreboard in right field for his first career grand slam. It was also the first grand slam ever given up by Johnny Cueto in his long career. The blast was just the third of Story's 30 career homers to go to the opposite field.

Tony Wolters kept the inning going with a single, and then with two outs Charlie Blackmon hit a hard line drive toward Hunter Pence in right field that seemed sure to be caught, but Pence lost the ball in the lights, slipped on the wet grass, and before you knew it the ball was rolling towards the wall and Blackmon was circling the bases for an inside-the-park home run, the Rockies' first since Brandon Barnes stunned the Giants at AT&T Park in 2014.

The grand slam and inside-the-parker in the same inning was the first such occurrence in the National League since 1950, when the then New York Giants did it. The Boston Red Sox accomplished the feat in 2011. It was a wild inning and it gave Colorado a 6-3 lead.

Tyler Chatwood continued to have a difficult outing; allowing a leadoff homer to Brandon Belt to start the fifth inning, and requiring a great Charlie Blackmon catch to avoid further damage. Chatwood went six innings and allowed four runs on seven hits. It was a far cry from the two-hitter he threw on Saturday, but he's had worse starts at Coors Field.

The Giants threatened in the seventh when Mike Dunn allowed two singles before giving way to Adam Ottavino, who threw a wild pitch that put two runners in scoring position with two outs before he got Brandon Crawford to roll one over to DJ LeMahieu for the last out of the inning.

Trevor Story had a chance for another grand slam in the bottom of the seventh after CarGo and Mark Reynolds walked and Gerardo Parra was hit by a pitch, but he popped up on the infield. Parra was in pain after being struck in the ankle area, but remained in the game.

Adam Ottavino allowed two hits and a walk to begin the top of the eighth as the Giants cut the lead to 6-5. He got Gorkys Hernandez to fly out before Jake McGee came on and got the final two outs of the inning to preserve the lead.

Greg Holland struck out Hunter Pence looking on a slider, got Buster Posey to fly out on the first pitch, and struck out Brandon Crawford on three pitches to earn his ninth consecutive save to start the season. The Rockies are now 7-0 in one-run games.

The Rockies and Giants will do it again tomorrow night at 6:10pm when Antonio Senzatela takes on Matt Moore. Hopefully the weather will be nicer.