Thrilling rally turns out just to set table for Giants
San Francisco claims series victory by getting to Colorado reliever Davis in 10th inning
With every misstep, the improbable road back to Rocktober gets a bit steeper.
Colorado had another such setback Tuesday night, when the San Francisco Giants negated the Rockies’ ninth-inning rally at Coors Field to win the game 8-4 and take the series, too.
After Colorado tied it up in the ninth inning with Ian Desmond’s two-run homer off San Francisco closer Will Smith, the Giants struck right back the next frame. Rockies closer Wade Davis let in three runs and was yanked for Bryan Shaw, and the Giants scored another run as a rare error by Nolan Arenado made the damage even greater.
The late-inning dramatics followed a dominant start by former Colorado pitcher and San Francisco southpaw Drew Pomeranz, while the Rockies wasted the best home outing of Peter Lambert’s young career. The rookie right-hander turned in a quality start with six innings of two-run ball on six hits, three strikeouts and no walks.
Going back to before the allstar break, it marked Colorado’s 10th loss in its last dozen games as the inconsistent Rockies remain a few games back of the second wild-card spot but have no clear path forward to a third straight playoff appearance.
Lambert’s lone trouble came in the second inning. Outfielder Alex Dickerson, en route to a career-high four-hit night, led off with a single, and an RBI double by Mike Yastrzemski followed. Then with two outs, Joe Panik’s RBI single that deflected off Lambert made it 2-0 San Francisco.
Meanwhile, Pomeranz — who pitched for the Rockies from