What began as a pitcher’s duel turned into a slugfest, but the Rockies came out on top either way, defeating the Giants 6-4 on Thursday to secure a series win. The Rockies and Giants combined for nine runs in the final three innings but the Rockies offense mounted a seventh inning comeback and the bullpen held the Giants down (enough) to secure a victory. The Rockies (9-3) have still yet to lose two games in a row this season.
Salty dingers
The two teams combined for just one run—a Trevor Story homer—through six innings. The seventh turned the game into a Coors-fest. The Giants managed to pull together a two-out rally against Freeland, the dagger being a three-run donger from center fielder Mauricio Dubón, to make it 3-1. But the Rockies bats came roaring to life in the bottom half. Back-to-back doubles from Garrett Hampson and Chris Owings made it 3-2. Then Daniel Murphy smashed a pinch-hit two-run bomb over the out-of-town scoreboard, prompting a slow strut from Murph out of the box as he admired the first pinch-hit home run in the league of the season. It also prompted a stare out to center:
Mauricio Dubon turned and screamed at Giants dugout as his homer flew out of park. Daniel Murphy stared out at center as he rounded bases a few minutes later: pic.twitter.com/CDJQmygMOR
— Alex Pavlovic (@PavlovicNBCS) August 6, 2020
Personally, I’m here for socially distant saltiness, so long as it doesn’t turn into socially distant “brawls.”
Three batters later, Charlie Blackmon launched a second deck shot to right to make it 6-3. The five hits in the inning more than doubled the team’s hit total from the previous six innings.
Rocky Mountain Rematch
One of the striking features of today’s game was the fact that a former Rockies rotation stalwart, Tyler Anderson, was starting for the Giants opposite Kyle Freeland. Who performed better? Neither walked away with a decision, but Anderson threw just 66 pitches over his five shutout innings. Freeland had more length and was one out away from pitching seven shutout innings, but then gave up two singles and a donger. Thus the ever-present question of this new baseball ecosystem: which matters more, run prevention or length? Your answer today might be shaped by which team you’re supporting.
Wardrobe malfunction
Considering this otherwise hilarious and mostly innocuous mistake, I now wonder how close Jairo Díaz’s locker is to Elias Diaz’s. Also, are they are social distancing enough?
Jairo Díaz is wearing Elías Díaz's jersey pic.twitter.com/rKu3DQwOXv
— Electro (@ImNotHuman123) August 6, 2020
Up Next
Thus concludes the homestand for the Rockies. They head out in the open road, a quick jaunt up to Seattle to take on the Mariners for a three game set. Antonio Senzatela (2-0, 2.45 ERA) is scheduled to take on Yusei Kikuchi (0-0, 4.66 ERA) in the series opener on Friday at 7:40pm MT.