Whether it’s games lost in terrible blowouts or by the smallest of margins, the Colorado Rockies just can’t seem to put together a complete effort on the baseball diamond right now.
They got about as much as could be asked for out of starter Chi Chi González, if not more, who was promoted to the roster between games of the doubleheader to start the second affair; Jesus Tinoco was optioned back to Triple-A to create space for Florida born righty.
González returned some sanity to a ballpark that has seen little of that lately, pitching five innings of two-run baseball, keeping the game well withing striking distance for the home club.
It was an impressive feat for the 27-year-old, especially considering the Giants were hot off a 19 run explosion in the first game. However, the Rockies’ offense couldn’t muster enough to back up González and Colorado fell in frustration for a 2-1 loss.
The Rockies came about 45 feet from breaking the scoreless tie early after a pair of errors allowed Garrett Hampson to reach first courtesy of a drop at first base by Brandon Belt and Charlie Blackmon to reach second on a misplayed fly ball by Austin Slater in right.
As Hampson sped around third base in plenty of time to reach home, he lost balance and fell to the ground. Unable to scramble back to the bag in time, he was tagged out before Trevor Story struck out to end the inning and the opportunity.
Naturally, the Giants rubbed it in by opening the fourth with consecutive no-doubt home runs to right field from Steven Vogt and Brandon Crawford, the team’s first back-to-back home runs since a few hours earlier in Game One.
The Rockies got on the board in the bottom of the fifth, but even that play came with frustrations. Raimel Tapia produced a two-out single to left, his second hit of the game, and raced around to score when Hampson hit one that got over Slater’s head in right. In his attempt to stretch a double into a triple, Hampson was nailed at third for the second time in the game on a bang-bang play that had to be overturned upon review.
The young infielder’s speed was a decisive factor in winning the rubber match against the Reds on Sunday but with tighter base running from him on Monday, the Rockies might’ve been up 3-2 rather than down 2-1.
Colorado trudged on with more quality pitching even after González exited the game in what was literally a night and day difference from what we saw in the first game of the twin billing.
Carlos Estévez pitched two scoreless innings that the bullpen desperately needed, sitting on 99 MPH with his fastball, giving up just one hit. He struck out two and threw 26 of his 33 pitches for strikes.
Bryan Shaw struck out a pair and got some help from a nice leaping catch by Tapia in left for a clean eighth inning.
Jairo Díaz got a couple of fly balls to left field and a strikeout for another 1-2-3 inning for the Rockies ‘pen to send it to the bottom of the ninth for one final chance at redemption.
Trevor Story led off the inning with a walk, but ground balls from David Dahl, Nolan Arenado, and Daniel Murphy ended the game and a very long day at the ballpark for the boys in purple.
It was the first time Colorado was swept in a doubleheader since losing two to Arizona on September 1, 2015 and the first loss of consecutive games to San Francisco since May of 2016.
