The Colorado Rockies took what can only be described as a bad loss to the San Francisco Giants, 2-0, on Friday night.
Starting pitcher Tyler Anderson had a rough second inning but overall a good start, pitching six innings and allowing two runs on seven hits with no walks and six strikeouts. The Rockies offense could not get anything going, however, only getting four men on base all night, just one of those advancing to second base.
Offense Absent
Entering Friday night’s game, Giants starter Chris Stratton had an unremarkable big league career, posting a 4.52 ERA, 1.44 WHIP and 4.34 FIP with an ERA+ of 90. He had worse numbers than that in 2018, with a 4.99 ERA, 79 ERA+ and 4.46 FIP in 126 1⁄3 innings. He then proceeded to throw a two-hit shutout against the Rockies, giving up just a pair of singles and two walks in the first complete game of his career, striking out seven. It was frankly an embarrassing offensive performance for a first-place team and one the Rockies could not afford at this point in the season.
Scoreboard Watching
Away from AT&T Park, things also went as bad as they possibly could have. The only other NL contender to lose was the Cardinals, whose 3-0 shutout at the hands of the Dodgers allowed LA to climb to within 1⁄2 game of the Rockies for first place in the NL West.
The two results combined flipped the Rockies from having a 70 percent chance to make the playoffs and a 53 percent chance to win the division at the start of the day to a 62 percent chance to make the playoffs and 38 percent chance to win the division at the end of it, per FiveThirtyEight.
Looking Ahead
The Rockies will look to bounce back and even the series with San Francisco tomorrow. However, it will not be an easy task as the Giants send Madison Bumgarner to the mound. The good news is the Rockies will counter with Germán Márquez. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. Mountain time.