Gray's bad day sinks Rockies in San Francisco

The Colorado Rockies offense kept battling but it was an off-day for the pitching staff that has held the team up all season, resulting in a 9-4 loss in their third game against the San Francisco Giants.

Shortstop Brandon Crawford played the hero with a four-RBI day.

Colorado got the scoring going in the first, getting a lead-off infield single from Charlie Blackmon who moved up on a deep fly ball from David Dahl and scored on a single off the bat of Nolan Arenado. Interestingly, left-fielder Gregor Blanco elected to not even attempt a throw home on the play.

The Rockies got another run in the second in bittersweet fashion. Ian Desmond began the inning with a walk and managed to move all the way to third on an error from Stratton. Daniel Castro, in the rare situation in which hitting into a double play is preferable to a strikeout—though still far from ideal—he managed the lesser of two evils, hitting into the twin killing but getting Desmond in for the second run.

Gray danced out of some trouble in the first but was unable to do so in the second, surrendering a lead-off single to Brandon Crawford, catching a bad break on a double play attempt that wasn’t turned as Castro’s throw pulled Desmond off the bag, and then running into a double by Gorkys Hernandez that put runners at second and third. Stratton managed a groundball out that almost got by Castro at second, but an excellent sliding play kept the damage to one run.

The problems continued in the third, starting with back-to-back singles for Andrew McCutchen and Buster Posey. Brandon Belt walked to load the bases. But Gray got Evan Longoria to fly out without getting a run in, meaning he was a double play ball away from escaping the jam with no runs scored. But Crawford bounced a double just fair down the left-field line to put the Giants on top 3-2. Miguel Gomez followed with a solid single to right, scoring another run, before Gray could finish off the inning.

Colorado struck back, again the bottom of the order providing a scratched-out run. Desmond and Tony Wolters singled, putting runners at the corners once again for Castro, and for the second time in as many at-bats, he hit into a run-scoring double play, pulling Colorado to within one.

It was more of the same for Gray in the fourth who gave up a tough-luck triple on a ball that skipped just under Desmond’s glove at first base then got stuck on the bullpen mounds in foul territory. He almost worked out of it, getting a weak fly out from McCutchen and some help on a phenomenal diving stop by Trevor Story. But Belt came through with a bloop single just in front of Blackmon in center field to make it 5-3, Giants.

The Rockies got one back in the fifth thanks to singles from Blackmon, Gerardo Parra, and Story, but Parra was thrown out at third on Story’s RBI single, ending the rally.

Chris Rusin came on for Gray in the fifth and his season-long struggles continued, immediately giving up a single to Gomez, then a one-out single to Austin Jackson and a two-out double to McCutchen to extend San Francisco’s lead out to three runs.

Brooks Pounders was needed in a situation with the club down and a heavy workload having gone to the plus-side guys as of late and the Giants took advantage right away, getting a single from Longoria through the shift and a no-doubt blast from Crawford. Though, he worked the rest of that inning and two more without further incident.

Colorado falls to 25-21, 18-10 on the road. They sit one game back of the lead in the NL West.

Final Stats:

Jon Gray: 3.2 IP, 9 H, 5 ER, 1 BB, 4 K

Chris Rusin: 1.1 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 2 K

Brooks Pounders: 3 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 6 K

Charlie Blackmon: 2-for-5, 2 R

Ian Desmond: 1-for-2, 2 R, 2 BB

Trevor Story: 1-for-4, 1 RBI

What’s Next:

The Giants will aim to split the series, the Rockies to take it, on a Sunday afternoon showdown. Lefties Tyler Anderson and Ty Blach. First pitch at 2:05.