The hits and runs arrived like manna from heaven Tuesday night at .
For what had seemed like a baseball eternity, the Rockies had failed to deliver big innings built on timely, back-to-back swings, but they finally arrived in a 9-6 win over a bad San Francisco team that lost for the 10th time in 12 games.
The sixth inning was something of a revelation. Colorado sent eight men to the plate and blasted five hits, including RBI doubles by , and Ian Desmond, en route to four runs. And, when things got tight near the end, and both delivered RBI doubles in the eighth inning.
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“That was an inning we should look at as a Rockies’ inning,” manager Bud Black said of the sixth. “That’s what we were doing a lot early, but it hasn’t happened lately. But we came through with runners in scoring position (5-for-12), so that was good to see.”
Eight different players notched RBIs for Colorado, something that hadn’t happened since a 15-12 loss to Washington on April 25 at Coors Field.
“This is the kind of game you need over a long season,” catcher Jonathan Lucroy said after his 2-for-4 performance. “Sometimes the pitching picks you up and sometimes it’s the offense. Tonight, our offense came through for us.”,”
Colorado’s victory, combined with Milwaukee’s 9-3 loss at Cincinnati, increased Colorado’s lead over the Brewers to 2½ games. St. Louis, which beat San Diego 8-4 Tuesday night, trails the Rockies by three games.
The Giants, meanwhile, owners of the second-worst record in the majors, fell to 0-9 at Coors Field this season, the first time the Rockies have ever beaten a time nine times in once season at home.
Another positive jolt for Colorado’s hibernating offense arrived in the fourth when mashed a 423-foot, solo home run to left off starter Ty Blach, the left-hander from Regis Jesuit High School. It was Story’s 19th homer, but his first in 61 at-bats. Story’s home run woke up a sleepy crowd of 24,245, the smallest at Coors Field since 22,461 for a game against Washington on April 26.
Rockies manager Bud Black came into the game planning to utilize a “bullpen start.” That is, use a number of relievers, and substitute arms early and often. The strategy worked early, but it fell apart late.
was the first man on the hill. The right-hander’s “start” wasn’t pretty, but it was effective enough. Chatwood gave up four hits and issued three walks over three innings, but the Giants never crossed home plate. With two on and one out in the first, Chatwood escaped by getting Brandon Crawford to ground to second baseman DJ LeMahieu, who started a double play. Then, Chatwood got another double play in the second.
“That’s what I do, I get groundballs, that’s why traffic on the bases doesn’t bother me too much,” he said.
But Chatwood’s big moment of truth came in the third. With two out and the bases loaded, manager Bud Black stuck with Chatwood, who rewarded his bosses faith by striking out Hunter Pence with a changeup on a 2-2 pitch.
The Giants nicked left-hander for a run in the fifth, cutting Colorado’s lead to 2-1. And infield single off Rusin’s leg, followed by a single by Joe Panik and an RBI single by Crawford got San Francisco on the board.
The Giants scored two more in the seventh on a two-run double by Buster Posey off erstwhile starter Antonio Senzatela. That was just the beginning of the bullpen’s late-game meltdown. In the eighth, left-hander was charged with three runs on three hits in two-thirds of an inning, the big blow a two-run double by Denard Span. came in to strike out Buster Posey with a wicked slider — the biggest pitch of the game up to that point.
Greg Holland set down the Giants in order in the ninth for his 37th save, although pinch hitter crushed a ball to the center field wall before hauled it in for the second out.
Late-night Notes of Note
- The Rockies have won consecutive home games for the first time since Aug. 4-5 vs. Philadelphia.
- The Rockies improved to 12-4 vs. the Giants this season, their most wins against the Giants in one season in franchise history. The teams play three more times.
- Nolan Arenado went 3-for-5 with his 40th double and 112th RBI of the season, tied with Giancarlo Stanton for the most RBIs in the majors.
- Arenado became the third Rockies player in franchise history to have multiple seasons (also 2015) with at least 40 doubles and 30 home runs. The other were Todd Helton (2000-04) and and Matt Holliday (2006-07).
- DJ LeMahieu extended his hitting streak to 13 games, tied for the third-longest streak of his career. He’s hitting .370 during that stretch.
- LeMahieu has reached base in a season-high 16 consecutive games and in 37 of his last 40 games since July 19.
- LeMahiue is batting .450 (27-for-60) in 15 games vs. the Giants this season, the highest average against a single opponent by any National League player.
- The Giants have lost 10 games in a row at Coors Field, their longest road losing streak to a single team since losing 11 in a row at Cincinnati Sept. 11, 1984-Sept. 17, 1985.
- San Francisco’s Ty Blach, a graduate of Regis Jesuit High School, pitched 5 ⅓ innings and allowed five runs on five hits with two walks and two strikeouts.
- Blach has lost each of his last five starts, going 0-5 with a 7.90 ERA, 11 walks, nine strikeouts and seven home runs allowed.
- The Giant’s Joe Panik recorded a season-high four hits, his second consecutive game with at least three hits.
- San Francisco catcher Buster Posey went 2-for-5 with two RBIs, but he struck out three times in a game for only the sixth time in his career, and the first time since Aug. 20, 2010 at the Dodgers.
- Pablo Sandoval extended his hitless streak to 10 games, going 0-for-37 over that span. It is the longest active hitless streak in the majors this season, and the longest hitless streak for a Giants position player since Johnnie LeMaster recorded a 0-for-37 hitless streak in 1984.
