A half day after Coors Field hosted a pitching masterpiece, it became the scene of a 26-hit slugfest worthy of a city league softball game.
The Giants avoided a three-game sweep, beating up Rockies rookie starter Greg Reynolds en route to a 10-7 victory. Today’s scoring smorgasbord followed the Rockies’ 1-0 victory Wednesday night.
Reynolds was fresh off his first major-league victory on Saturday night against the Brewers. That night, he had his sinker working for six crisp innings. Today his sinker floated up in the strike zone, enabling the Giants to hammer him for eight runs on 10 hits in just 3 1/3 innings. The rookie’s ERA shot up to 6.69.
Reynolds’ first hint of trouble came with two outs in the second. The right-hander threw high, wild and inside, plunking Giants catcher Steve Holm. Clue No. 2 arrived when the next batter, Giants starter Jonathan Sanchez punched an RBI single to center. Confirmation of Reynolds’ rocky outing arrived when left fielder Fred Lewis, crushed a 1-2 fastball deep into the bullpen for a three-run homer to cap the Giants’ four-run inning.
Coors Field has become Lewis’ personal batting cage. He hit for the cycle here on last year’s Mother’s Day. He went 2-for-5 today. For his career, he’s 16-for-43 (.372) with three homers and 12 RBIs at the ballpark on the corner of 20th and Blake.
In the fourth, San Francisco second baseman Ray Durham lined a two-run single up the middle for the 2,000th hit of his career. Durham’s milestone drove in two runs and drove Reynolds from the game.
The Rockies repeatedly rallied today, but they never got out of the hole. Yorbit Torrealba drove in two runs with a single in the second, and Matt Holliday blasted a two-run double in the third.
The Rockies closed the gap to 8-7 on Garrett Atkins’ bases-loaded, three-run double in the fifth.
The Rockies appeared to be mounting a major comeback, but reliever Manny Corpas couldn’t keep it close. The former closer set the Giants down in order in the sixth and was breezing along with two outs in the seventh before yielding a single to Aaron Rowand, a ground-rule double to John Bowker and a two-run single to Rich Aurilia. Corpas’s biggest mistake was grooving a 0-2 fastball down the middle to Aurilia. He lined it up the middle, increasing San Francisco’s lead to 10-7.
The Rockies’ best chance for a late rally was thwarted in the seventh when Ryan Spilborghs struck out looking with two outs and the bases loaded.
Now 14 games under .500 (26-40), the Rockies begin a three-game road trip to Chicago Friday when they take on the White Sox in inter-league play. The Rockies are just 10-24 on the road this season.
Patrick Saunders: 303-954-1428 or psaunders@denverpost.com
