Dubón impresses — and ruffles feathers — in loss
Mauricio Dubón may not have all of the natural tools that Bryce Harper possesses or that David Ortiz once had. But in the eyes of Giants manager Gabe Kapler, Dubón plays with a lot of that same emotion, maybe has that same kind of swagger.
So Kapler was making no apologies Thursday after Dubón enthusiastically celebrated a seventh inning home run — his first of the season — in what became a 6-4 Giants loss to the Colorado Rockies on Thursday at Coors Field.
After he hit the 414-foot homer to left off of Rockies starter Kyle Freeland to give the Giants a 3-1 lead, Dubón turned and yelled toward his team’s dugout — perhaps a no-no among baseball purists, especially for rookies.
“Bryce Harper’s like that,” Kapler said. “Every time he hits a big home run or does something great on the field, he wants everybody in his dugout to
experience that. He wants them to celebrate with him. I think the same could be true for (Ortiz).”
Kapler managed Harper in Philadelphia last season, and played with Ortiz in Boston from 2004 to 2006. He was not comparing Dubon, 26, to either star player, but noted that perhaps his personality is along the same lines.
“I appreciate Mauricio for the energy and the passion that he brings to the field every day,” Kapler said.
It’s unclear if the Rockies appreciated that same passion, as they answered with five runs of their own in their half of the seventh.
As Daniel Murphy was rounding the bases following a two-run homer that gave the Rockies a 4-3 lead, he shot an extended look toward Dubón in center field. Charlie Blackmon followed that up with a two-run homer of his own, as the Rockies took a 6-3 lead.
Dubón said he didn’t notice Murphy’s not-so-subtle message at first, but was told what had happened later.
“I thought it was cool,” Dubón said. “Honestly, I thought it was pretty awesome.”
Of his home run, Dubón said he was simply expressing how he felt at that time, given that he had only received 25 at-bats in 13 games, and that he had grounded out in his first two times at the plate Thursday.
“I respect (Murphy) a lot,” said Dubón, who also made a nice leaping catch in center field in the second inning to rob Matt Kemp of extra bases. “I enjoyed what he did, too.”
There was some speculation that Dubón would be one of the two players the Giants would send to their alternative training site in Sacramento to get their active roster down to 28 players, the maximum allowed by MLB as of Thursday.
Kapler, though, said the Giants had their reasons for keeping Dubón around, including his versatility and his right-handed bat. The Giants instead optioned pitcher Andrew Suarez and Steven Duggar.
“There’s room in the game for guys who are quiet assassins, put their heads down and walk around the bases like Matt Williams did,” Kapler said. “There’s plenty of room for players who get really excited. As long as that emotion and excitement is directed to our dugout and not theirs, I’m in support of players expressing themselves.”
The seventh inning fireworks were a part of a difficult day for the Giants’ bullpen. Relievers Rico Garcia and Caleb Baragar allowed the home runs to Murphy and Blackmon, respectively.
It also spoiled the outing for Giants starter Tyler Anderson, who threw five scoreless innings in what was his longest outing since March of last year. 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.
After Anderson came out of the game in the sixth. reliever Wandy Peralta gave up a sixth inning solo home run to Trevor Story to break a scoreless tie.
Anderson was on a pitch count Thursday. 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.
Anderson spent his first four big league seasons with the Rockies, going 1824 with a the right t4.69 ERA in 73 games. His tenure in Denver came to an end after he had knee surgery in June of last season.
“I’d be the first person to always go out there and fight for more innings, but to me that felt like the right time,” Anderson said. “I hadn’t thrown more than three or three-plus, I hadn’t thrown a lot of pitches. There’s been a lot of injuries going around baseball, so (coming our after five) was the right move there.”
The Giants have now dropped four of five games and are in fourth place in the National League West. It doesn’t get much easier for them through the remainder of their 10-game road trip, as they face the Los Angels Dodgers from Friday to Sunday and the defending American League champion Houston Astros from Aug. 10-12.
Against the Dodgers, Kapler said the Giants will start Jeff Samardzija tonight, Johnny Cueto on Saturday and Kevin Gausman on Sunday.
• Originally, active rosters were supposed to be further reduced to 26 in two more weeks. But MLB and the players association agreed to keep the number at 28 for the remainder of the season to safeguard further outbreaks of positive tests for the coronavirus.