Bullpen crumbles as Giants drop series to Rockies
DENVER — A Giants bullpen that has been used extensively through the first two weeks of the season crumbled in the seventh inning of Thursday’s game with the Colorado Rockies.
Giants relievers Rico Garcia and Caleb Baragar allowed home runs to Daniel Murphy and Charlie Blackmon, respectively, as the Rockies scored five runs in the seventh inning to help earn a 6-4 win at Coors Field.
Murphy’s home run gave the Rockies a 4-3 lead and Blackmon’s homer, which traveled 434 feet in the thin Denver air, put Colorado up by three.
Donovan Solano went 3-for-4 to extend his hitting streak to 11 games, and scored a run in the eighth inning to draw San Francisco to within two. But the Giants (6-8) still lost three of four games to the Rockies, and now face a critical stretch if they want to stay afloat in the National League playoff race.
The Giants begin a three-game in Los Angeles against the Dodgers on Friday, then travel to Houston for three games against the defending American League champion Astros from Aug. 10-12.
Giants starter Tyler Anderson was solid, as he threw five scoreless innings in what was his longest outing since March of last year.
Only twice so far this season, though, has a Giants starter gone into the sixth inning, putting some extra responsibility on the bullpen in the early going than is normal.
Anderson, facing his former team for the first time since he signed with the Giants as a free agent in December, allowed two hits and two walks and threw an economical 66 pitches.
Anderson came out of the game in the sixth. Reliever Wandy Peralta, though, gave up a sixth inning solo home run to Trevor Story, breaking a scoreless tie.
There was some speculation before Thursday that Mauricio Dubon would be one of the two players the Giants would send to their alternative training site in Sacramento.
Manager Gabe Kapler, though, said the Giants had their reasons for keeping Dubon around, including his versatility and his right-handed bat. The Giants optioned pitcher Andrew Suarez and Steven Duggar to get to the MLB-mandated 28-player roster limit by Thursday morning.
Dubon rewarded that faith, as
his three-run home run in the top of the seventh inning proved to be the difference in a 3-1 Giants win over the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field.
Dubon, who grounded out in his first two at-bats, hit a four-seam fastball from Rockies starter Kyle Freeland 414 feet over the left field wall for his first home run of the season.
Anderson spent his first four big league seasons with the Rockies, going 1824 with a 4.69 ERA in 73 games. His tenure in Denver came to an end after he had knee surgery in June of last season.
In three appearances for the Giants this season before Thursday, Anderson had a 0-1 record with a 3.68 ERA, allowing eight hits and three earned runs in 7 1/3 innings. Anderson threw in Sunday’s 9-5 loss to Texas, allowing one earned run in two innings.