Rockies beat Giants for 8th straight time

DENVER (AP) – Kyle Freeland gave up hits and even got hit, but the rookie gave the surging Colorado Rockies the outing they needed.

Freeland pitched six solid innings and shook off a liner off his pitching arm, Tony Wolters drove in two runs and the Colorado Rockies beat the San Francisco Giants again, 5-1 on Saturday.

The Rockies are 9-1 against San Francisco this season and have won the last eight against the Giants. Colorado had 14 hits but only one for extra bases, a double by pinchhitter Pat Valaika in the seventh inning.

“A lot of singles today. That tells me there was some pretty good pitching,” Rockies manager Bud Black said.

Freeland (8-4) wasn’t as sharp as his seven shutout innings against San Francisco on April 23 but he held the Giants to one run and eight hits despite pitching in traffic in every inning. The rookie right-hander left with a 2-1 lead and pumped his fist after striking out pinch-hitter Brandon Belt to end the sixth with a runner on second.

Freeland had a scary moment in the fourth when Joe Panik’s line drive up the middle hit him near his elbow and then glanced off his biceps. The trainer looked at him and after one warmup pitch he said he was fine.

Giants starter Matt Cain took a shot off Carlos Gonzalez’s bat in the fourth but staye in the game.

Nolan Arenado made it 3-1 with a single in the sixth and Wolters and Valaika had two-out hits in the seventh to stretch the lead to 5-1. All six runs in the game were scored with two outs.

Cain (3-6), winless since May 15, lost for the fifth time in six starts and Joe Panik had three hits for the Giants, who have lost five straight and 14 of 18.

Panik was denied a fourth hit when first baseman Mark Reynolds caught his liner and stepped on first to double off Kelby Tomlinson to end the game.

“We’re not doing enough to win the ballgames,” Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. “We score 17 runs in the first two games and we can’t get a win, and we get a pretty good pitching job and we get one run today. That’s kind of how it’s gone for us.”

TRAINER’S ROOM LHP Madison Bumgarner (left AC shoulder strain) threw a 40-pitch bullpen session in Arizona on Saturday. Bochy said he will have another session in a few days. ... C Buster Posey started at 1B to take stress off his sore left ankle.