Giants 5, Rockies 4: Bay Area Blues

The Rockies didn’t pitch too badly, and the offense made it close late, but they ultimately lacked one last key hit and dropped game two of the series 5-4 on Friday.

Gomber ganged up on

Austin Gomber’s had some struggles against San Francisco this season, and those woes continued on Friday. The Giants jumped on the lefty early, plating five runs in the first two innings. Gomber had an opportunity to escape damage early: Austin Slater opened the bottom of the first with a double, then Kris Bryant flew out. Following a walk to Buster Posey, Darin Ruf flew out to leave the Giants with two on and two out. Unfortunately, Gomber hung a changeup to Wilmer Flores, who launched his 15th home run of the season to make it 3-0. After this, a walk and two base hits would add another run before the end of the inning. The Giants succesfully batted around in the first inning and plated four runs in total.

In the second inning, Slater picked things up where he left off and doubled to left on an 0-2 pitch. Again Gomber recorded two outs and was close to escaping unscathed, and again he faltered, this time giving up a base hit to Darin Ruf to make it 5-0.

While Gomber would settle in, and the Rockies bullpen did not allow any more offense (yay!), those five runs were enough to seal the victory for San Francisco.

Rockies offense misses opportunities

The Rockies had their opportunities to get back in the game, but unfortunately were unable to take advantage until the ninth. They did score a run in the second and third frames (by way of a Gomber sac bunt and C.J. Cron base hit, respectively) but were unable to add on in the following five innings. Look to the sixth inning for an example of this inefficiency - Cron smacked a double to open the inning against reliever Jay Jackson and put the Rockies in prime position to get a run back, but strikeouts to Elías Díaz and Sam Hilliard hurt the rally. Garrett Hampson walked, but pinch-hitter Taylor Motter popped out to end the threat.

The Rockies had at least one base runner in seven of the nine innings. That, at least, is some improvement.

Better late than never

But hey, maybe they saved the best for last!

The ninth inning was the best showing for Colorado’s bats on the night. Old friend Jake McGee opened the final frame with a strikeout of the speedy Garrett Hampson before allowing a base hit to pinch-hitter Yonathan Daza. California native Connor Joe then sent one over the wall to bring the game within a run and wake up Rockies fans everywhere.

As pinch-hitter Trevor Story took his practice swings, the anticipation was palpable. Unfortunately, Story swung at a frankly not great first pitch and grounded out to first to record the Rockies’ second out. Brendan Rodgers and Charlie Blackmon refused to say die, though, and hit back-to-back singles to put the tying run at second base and the go-ahead run at first for the hot bat of C.J. Cron. Cron, who had three hits on the night, faced off with reliever Zack Littell, who was able to record the strikeout and end the game.

A tough late loss to be sure, but it was nice to see Colorado string some hits together late. Hopefully this can lead to some positive results in tomorrow’s contest. Speaking of...

Up Next

We stay in the Bay as the Rockies and Giants play game three of their series. Kyle Freeland (3-6, 4.65 ERA) is set to start for Colorado, while San Francisco has yet to announce a starter at the time of this writing.

First pitch is scheduled for 7:05pm MST.

See you then!