SF Giants lose a series to last-place Rockies, fail to extend lead in NL West
The Giants arrived at Coors Field this week with a chance to extend their lead in the National League West and build a cushion in the standings before their schedule becomes increasingly difficult.
They left Denver having lost a pair of winnable games that they led against a last-place Rockies team due to marathon six-run innings that spun out of control.
After blowing a four-run lead in the seventh and final inning in Game 2 of Tuesday’s doubleheader, the Giants lost 6-5 in Wednesday’s matinee as starter Logan Webb and reliever Matt Wisler failed to contain Colorado in a crushing fourth inning.
A Giants team that’s missing the top three hitters from its batting order –Tommy La Stella, Mike Yastrzemski and Donovan Solano– due to injuries also had its most productive offensive player and team home run leader, Buster Posey, exit the game in the bottom of the seventh inning.
Posey felt his right hamstring tighten up while running to second base in the fifth inning and manager Gabe Kapler said the Giants removed him for precautionary reasons, but not having his bat in the lineup hurt the club in the ninth inning as replacement Curt Casali made the first out of the frame on a strikeout when he tried to check his swing.
The Giants rallied to score a run and bring the potential tying run to third base in the ninth against Rockies closer Daniel Bard, but the offense was unable to come all the way back as Darin Ruf bounced into a game-ending groundout.
“As we saw last night, you can put some runs on the board in this park,” shortstop Brandon Crawford said. “So when we get a couple of walks to lead off the ninth, you never know what can happen. But (Bard) battled back and pitched well to those last few batters.”
For the first three innings of Wednesday’s game at Coors Field, Webb was as dominant as he’s been all season as the right-hander didn’t allow a baserunner and gave the Giants every indication he was prepared to save the bullpen.
In a 38-pitch fourth inning, the Rockies got Webb into the stretch and he looked like a completely different pitcher. Six of the eight hitters Webb faced reached base including second baseman Alan Trejo, the No. 8 hitter in the Colorado order who walked on four largely noncompetitive pitches with the bases loaded.
“The last one was tough,” Webb said candidly. “Just bad.”
Kapler pulled Webb from the game before he could face Rockies starter Jon Gray, but the damage Gray did with a RBI run single against reliever Matt Wisler was charged to Webb whose ERA ballooned to 5.34 following his brief outing.
“Just falling behind guys,” Webb said, when asked what the difference was in the fourth inning. “I wouldn’t say the stuff was much different.”
Wisler’s inability to retire the Rockies pitcher proved to be the difference in the game as it allowed leadoff man Raimel Tapia to send in two more Colorado runs with two outs in the fourth.
“I think right now, (Wisler’s) slider is going to play better when we move away from Coors, but I think that’s true for all of our pitchers,” Kapler said. “I’m seeing an improved version of him, but I understand from the outside, it doesn’t look that way.”
With veteran Johnny Cueto expected to rejoin the rotation on Sunday, Wednesday’s outing was likely the last for Webb as a starter for awhile as he was the pitcher who was initially sent to the bullpen when Alex Wood was reinstated from the injured list in mid-April.
Webb’s stint as a reliever only lasted one outing as the Giants needed him to replace Cueto, but after giving up six earned runs against the Rockies, the 24-year-old appears to be the most likely candidate to move to a bullpen that clearly needs more reliable right-handed options.
“That’s one of the blessings of having an off day tomorrow, it gives us an option to talk through all of the different options that we have,” Kapler said. “Beyond the rotation we laid out for San Diego, we don’t really have anything in stone.”
Crawford homered for the second straight day to give the Giants a 2-0 first inning lead against Gray and Ruf went the opposite way for a two-run seventh inning homer, but Kapler’s club didn’t string enough hits together on Wednesday for the type of big inning that so often powers a team to victory at a hitter-friendly ballpark such as Coors Field.
Kapler said Thursday’s off day comes at a good time for a Giants team that had several key players dealing with nagging injuries. He anticipates Posey will be healthy enough to start and it’s possible outfielder Mike Yastrzemski will be ready to return from the injured list after missing the entire road trip with oblique tightness.
“I think we’ll have a healthier group, a refreshed group and look forward to being a stronger unit physically heading into the San Diego series,” Kapler said.