SAN FRANCISCO — Facing another stellar starter, the Rockies’ sleepy offense went comatose for most of Saturday night. By the time the Rockies awoke and posted three runs in the ninth inning, it was too little and too late, serving primarily as something to hang onto.
“If we had gone down very, very quietly in the ninth inning, there would have been an awful lot to think about tonight, no question about it,” manager Jim Tracy said after the Rockies lost 5-3 to the Giants.
The surging Giants closed to within one game of the Rockies in the National League wild-card race as Colorado dropped its fourth consecutive game for just the second time in the Tracy era.
San Francisco starter Barry Zito confounded the Rockies for 8 1/3 innings. Chants of “Barry! Barry!” reverberated throughout AT&T Park when he left in the ninth inning. The left-hander with the big hook gave up only one run, scattered eight hits, struck out seven and walked one.
A one-out, solo home run by Brad Hawpe ended Zito’s night, as well as his 20-inning scoreless streak. A two-run single by Seth Smith cut the Giants’ lead to 5-3. With Smith on first, Todd Helton delivered a pinch-hit single and the tying run was aboard.
Up came Clint Barmes to face Giants closer Brian Wilson. But Barmes flied out to center and pounded his bat in frustration. That was an apt symbol of the Rockies’ recent offensive woes.
“We aren’t swinging the bats right now, for whatever reason,” said Barmes, who disagreed with two dubious called strikes by home plate umpire Wally Bell. “You have to tip your hats to the guys who are throwing against us lately. But there is no excuse for not swinging the bats any better than we have been. It would be nice to come out tomorrow and get some runs for our pitching staff.”
But the Rockies will have a tough time coming back to life in today’s series finale. They will face Matt Cain (12-4, 2.39 ERA).
Saturday night’s most disconcerting statistic was this: Before Hawpe’s homer, the Rockies had gone 23 innings without scoring, dating to Thursday’s home game against the NL West-leading Dodgers.
Earlier this season, the Rockies fell into an even deeper slump when they failed to score over 27 consecutive innings against the Mets in New York. They rebounded with a victory in the fourth game of that series, then ran off four more wins in a row.
Tracy hopes his club can summon that same resiliency as the season heads toward its final month.
“We need to string a bunch of hits together and give ourselves the opportunity to force the issue,” he said. “We need something similar to what we saw in the ninth inning, except for one thing — we need to do it earlier in the game.”
A lively sellout crowd of 41,200 got an extra treat in the second inning. Fans leaped out of their seats when Giants third baseman Pablo Sandoval led off with a massive solo homer off Rockies starter Jason Marquis.
When the ball finally came out of the stratosphere, it landed in McCovey Cove. It was the 50th home run by a Giants hitter to splash there. It was the second time this season Sandoval did it, the first coming July 30 against Philadelphia’s Rodrigo Lopez.
Marquis, searching for his 15th victory, got roughed up in his six innings. He gave up five runs and nine hits.
Patrick Saunders: 303-954-1428 or psaunders@denverpost.com
Looking ahead
TODAY: Rockies at Giants, 2:05 p.m., FSN
At first glance, this looks like a major mismatch. Giants right-hander Matt Cain (12-4, 2.39 ERA) is 6-2, 2.28 at AT&T Park. Against the Rockies this season, he is 2-1, 2.84. Cain has the right stuff to shut down Colorado’s hot-and-cold offense. But don’t discount Rockies right-hander Jason Hammel (8-7, 4.43). He has simplified his approach, going back to his four-seam fastball and his curveball as his primary pitches. It has worked well. He limited the Dodgers to two runs in seven innings Tuesday, his second impressive start in a row. And he has been effective on the road (6-4, 2.88). The Rockies are counting on him to give them something akin to his May 3 start at AT&T Park, when he threw six shutout innings in Colorado’s 1-0 loss to the Giants. Patrick Saunders, The Denver Post
Monday: Off
Tuesday: Mets’ Mike Pelfrey (9-9, 4.80 ERA) vs. Rockies’ Jorge De La Rosa (12-9, 4.72), 6:40 p.m., FSN
Wednesday: Mets’ Tim Redding (2-4, 5.94) vs. Rockies’ Ubaldo Jimenez (12-10, 3.33), 6:40 p.m., FSN
Thursday: Mets’ Pat Misch (0-1, 3.41) vs. Rockies’ Jason Marquis (14-9, 3.60), 1:10 p.m., no TV
