Giants 8, Rockies 5: The Rockies’ road woes continue

The Colorado Rockies’ road woes continue in the Bay Area. The Rockies started out with a decent pitching appearance from Austin Gomber, with a few misplaced pitches, but the sixth inning was where they truly imploded. Oh... and a not-so-fun fact, the Road Rockies were struck out 16 times tonight. 12 of those came from the Giants starting pitcher, Carlos Rodón.

Gomber’s night

Austin Gomber started the game by giving up a triple to Austin Slater who then crossed the plate on sac-fly from Mauricio Dubón. The Giants took an early first inning lead, a lead that Rockies were never able to overcome.

Mauricio Dubón wasn’t done after that hit either. In the bottom of the third inning he hit a two-run home run giving the Giants a three run lead. Gomber was able to settle in again for a bit, but the sixth inning is where things imploded and Austin Gomber walked some, gave up more hits and ultimately ended then night giving up five earned runs and only tallying three strikeouts.

Daza gives us hope... for a moment

Prior to the sixth inning implosion, Yonathan Daza gave the Rockies hope, even if it only lasted for a moment. In the top of the fifth inning, Daza had a two-run single that cut the Giants lead down to one run.

This was probably the lone high-moment for the Rockies tonight.

The sixth inning that felt like it would never end

The Rockies had only a one-run deficit. All they had to do was hold of the Giants and try and catch up. The defense was sloppy. After Austin Gomber was pulled from the game, Robert Stephenson took the mound. There was a wild pitch from Stephenson that was then overthrown by Elías Díaz that allowed the Giants to plate another run.

The sixth inning felt like it went on forever. The inning finally ended with a 6-2 lead from the Giants.

Sloppy defense, sloppy bullpen

The defense was extremely sloppy tonight. The Rockies only recorded two errors tonight, but there were a ton of miscues and missed catches. If the Rockies want to compete, these moments need to cease to exist. There were too many “free bases” given to the Giants tonight and that haunted the Rockies. The free bases weren’t just walks either, they were allowing runners to advance on poor defensive action, or rather lack thereof.

Free bases lead to more traffic, which leads to more runs scored. Collectively the Rockies walked five runners. And walks will haunt. The sixth inning and the eighth inning just felt like they would never end. Eventually they did, but not until after the Giants created enough of a lead it was insurmountable for the Rockies.

The game, it did end

Old friend Jake McGee pitched for the Giants in the ninth inning. Elías Díaz led off with a double, giving me hope that the Rockies might try and fight and claw their way back tonight. José Iglesias was able to double and bring Elías home. Garrett Hampson then hit a ground-rule double to bring Iglesias home. Connor Joe was able to make it to second with Hampson scoring after a throwing error from the Giants.

All of a sudden, the Rockies were back in business. Unfortunately, McGee was able to get the job done after those three runs were plated by striking out Yonathan Daza. The Rockies just couldn’t quite overcome their deficit and ended up falling 8-5.

Up Next

The Rockies and Giants face-off in game two of three in San Francisco tomorrow night. Antonio Senzatela (2-1, 3.75 ERA) will face off against Alex Wood (2-2, 4.38 ERA.) It’s another West Coast Baseball Game, first pitch is at 7:45pm MDT. See you then!