Giants sweep Rockies in doubleheader
San Francisco scores 19, beats Colorado in blowout
DENVER – In the middle of a 93-degree day at Coors Field, the Giants’ offense caught fire, launching baseballs toward the sun in a historic 19-2 rout of the Rockies.
By the conclusion of the evening portion of Monday’s doubleheader, the temperature had dropped more than 20 degrees and the Giants had mustered just two runs and six hits in nine innings.
The lack of UV rays and the lack of run support didn’t seem to matter. These days, there’s no cooling off the Giants.
Thanks to the efforts of five pitchers including starter Dereck Rodríguez, the Giants secured a 2-1 win to move within three games of the second Wild Card spot in the National League.
Thanks to the efforts of five pitchers including starter Dereck Rodríguez, the Giants secured a 2-1 win to move within three games of the second Wild Card spot in the National League.
The Giants are still four games under .500 after sweeping Monday’s doubleheader, but they’ve pulled within three games of the second Wild Card position in the National League standings. San Francisco still sits behind six teams in the chase for the sec
ond Wild Card spot, but two wins and a Pirates loss allowed the club to leapfrog Pittsburgh on Monday.
The Giants took different paths to defeat the Rockies twice in a span of 10 hours, but they achieved the same result and won both games of a doubleheader for the first time since taking a pair from the Mets at Citi Field on April 23, 2012.
After etching his name into the Giants’ record books alongside Willie Mays and Orlando Cepeda in Game 1 of Monday’s doubleheader, Brandon Crawford began his quest to write more history with a solo home run to right field off Rockies starter Chi Chi González in the top of the fourth inning.
His eight RBIS tied Mays and Cepeda for the most by a Giant in a single game since the franchise moved from New York to San Francisco in 1958 while his third home run of the day inched him closer to the record of 11 RBIS in a calendar day held by Phil Weintraub and Irish Meusel.
Because Meusel’s 11 RBI performance took place on September 2, 1925 and Weintraub’s occurred on April 30, 1944, Crawford’s nine RBIS marked the most in a day by a Giants player in three quarters of a century.
Crawford’s fourth-inning home run off González came immediately after catcher Stephen Vogt blasted his third home run of the season out to right field. For the second time in as many games, the starting
shortstop was involved as the Giants hit back-to-back home runs.
In the 19-2 romping over the Rockies in Monday’s matinee, Crawford’s first home run of the day preceded Mike Yastrzemski’s sixth home run on the season.
Unlike Game 1 starter Jeff Samardzija who was armed with a five-run lead from the moment he took the mound, righthander Dereck Rodríguez pitched under pressure for five innings in Game 2.
Rodríguez hadn’t started for the Giants since May 10 when he allowed four runs in a shutout loss to the Reds as he spent much of the first half in the bullpen. With Monday’s doubleheader looming after the All-star break, San Francisco optioned Rodríguez to the minors on July 2 so he could rebuild his stamina as a starter and prepare to face Colorado.
Rodríguez pitched for both Triple-a Sacramento and Single-a San Jose and returned to the majors in an outing that delighted his manager.
Despite shaky defense behind him, Rodríguez completed five innings and allowed just one run at a lively Coors Field. His work gave Bruce Bochy the chance to turn the ball over to a bullpen that was in decent shape thanks to strong performances by Samardzija in Game 1 and Tyler Beede in Sunday’s 8-3 win over the Brewers.
Over the final four innings, relievers Reyes Moronta, Tony Watson, Sam Dyson and Will Smith combined to keep the Rockies off the board and preserve the club’s 10th win in its last 12 games.