Rockies offense stifled in complete game shutout for Chris Stratton

The San Francisco Giants came into Friday night’s contest against the Colorado Rockies dragging through a streak of 11 straight losses.

The visitors meanwhile were riding high after a 3-1 series win over the Arizona Diamondbacks that created some breathing room in the race for the division title.

But it turned out to be a night that belonged to Giants’ starter Chris Stratton who tossed the first complete game shutout of his career and of San Francisco’s season.

The Colorado offense did him some favors throughout the game, swinging early and often without making much hard contact until late in the game.

Tyler Anderson, naturally, managed his best outing in over a month, going six innings and surrendering just two runs. But whether it be the road hangover or the job done by Stratton, Colorado could hardly muster a whiff of a rally, getting shut out after recording just two hits.

After throwing a 1-2-3 inning on just nine pitches, Anderson ran into some trouble in the second. Nick Hundley smacked a solid one-out single to left field in front of a pair of bloop singles to center from Joe Panik and Austin Slater that, because of a wild pitch sandwiched in there, cost Colorado a couple of runs.

The Rockies had little in the way of offensive momentum not really hitting the ball hard with consistency until the sixth. Charlie Blackmon led off with a single through the left side. DJ LeMahieu struck out but Nolan Arenado hit a screamer toward left that Gregor Blanco made a fantastic running over-the-shoulder catch, saving a run.

David Dahl followed with another hard line drive, this one to right field but he too fell victim to a nice catch by Slater.

Jake McGee worked a quick and clean seventh inning and Scott Oberg gave up a single to Evan Longoria but was otherwise perfect, keeping the score right where it was.

But DJ LeMahieu and Nolan Arenado hit grounders to short before David Dahl flew out to deep center, ending the game with none of the dramatics they have made a habit of lately.

Final Stats:

Tyler Anderson: 6 IP, 7 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 6 K

Jake McGee: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 K

Scott Oberg: 1 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 K

What’s Next:

The Rockies turn the page to the second game of the series that will see German Marquez (who is working on some strikeout records) take on Madison Bumgarner. First pitch at 7:05 Mountain Time.