Wow. What a game for Crawford!
Crawford torches Coors Field for three homers, nine RBIs in sweep
DENVER >> Remember the 2019 Giants? The team with the lowest batting average in franchise history? The lineup that made fans feel lucky when they witnessed a four-run outburst?
If you’ve already forgotten what those days looked like, so did the offense that suddenly can’t be stopped.
The Giants arrived at Coors Field for a doubleheader Monday and scored a series worth of runs in the matinee matchup, exploding for four home runs and 21 hits in a 19-2 victory over the Rockies. The Giants completed the sweep in the second game with a 2-1 win to move within three games of the second wildcard spot in the National League.
After etching his name into the Giants’ record books, 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. Crawford finished the doubleheader with three home runs and nine RBIs.
His eight RBIs in Game 1 tied Willie Mays and Orlando Cepeda for the most by a Giant in a single game since the franchise moved from New York to San Francisco in 1958.
Crawford’s fourth-inning home run in Game 2 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 backto-back home runs.
The 19 runs the Giants scored marked their
most in a game since they defeated the Dodgers 19-3 on Sept. 14, 2013.
Crawford paced the offense in Game 1 with five hits and eight RBIs as he joined Cepeda (July 4, 1961) and Mays (April 30, 1961) as the only Giants players to drive in eight runs in a game since the franchise moved to San Francisco in 1958.
“That’s something to be proud of,” manager Bruce Bochy said. “Your name mixed in with those guys, it’s a huge day here, there’s no getting around it.”
Crawford also recorded his fourth career multihome run game as he launched an opposite field, three-run blast in the first inning and a 443-foot home run into the second deck in right field in the sixth. His sixth-inning home run was the farthest ball Crawford has hit since Statcast began tracking batted ball distances in 2015.
“RBIs don’t matter anymore,” Crawford joked. “Yeah, I hit with a lot of guys on base today and that was nice. The whole lineup contributed and to be able to get some hits with runners in scoring position was definitely a good thing.”
Crawford received plenty of help from the hitters sandwiched around him in the middle of the Giants’ batting order as left fielder Alex Dickerson and right fielder Mike Yastrzemski combined with the shortstop to go 12 for 17 with 12 RBIs.
The 17-run margin of victory was the Giants’ largest since they defeated the Montreal Expos 18-0 on May 24, 2000.
The Giants threw the knockout punch early, scoring five in the first and seven in the third as they racked up 12 runs in the first three innings of a game for the first time since scoring 13 in three innings of a 13-0 victory over the Astros on July 3, 2009. It was also the first time the Giants scored 12 or more runs in the first three innings of a road game since they defeated the Phillies 15-8 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia on July 9, 1993.
The 11 earned runs charged to Rockies starter German Marquez were the most a pitcher has surrendered against the Giants since 1947 when Ed Jurisch of the Phillies gave up 11 to the New York Giants on June 28, 1947.
Three months after Evan Longoria recorded the Giants’ only hit in Marquez’s April 14 shutout victory over the Giants at Oracle Park, the Giants forced the Rockies to remove Marquez before the right-hander had completed three innings. They did it all without Longoria, who was hitting .400 in the month of July entering the day before he was placed on the 10-day injured list with plantar fasciitis in his left foot.
“It’s hard to replace someone like Longo, but I think our whole lineup has been contributing a lot,” Crawford said. “Even before the break, everyone has been swinging it better and we’ve been scoring a lot of runs.”
By the time Rockies first baseman Mark Reynolds singled for Colorado’s first hit in the bottom of the third, seven Giants had already reached with hits and four had recorded multiple hits. In the top of the ninth inning, Reynolds became the third Rockies position player ever to pitch as he moved onto the mound in mop-up duty.
The onslaught from the Giants’ hitters gave starter Jeff Samardzija the confidence to attack the strike zone all afternoon. Samardzija logged his third consecutive quality start as he lasted 6 2/3 innings and set a season-high with nine strikeouts, his most since he finished with nine on Sept. 2, 2017, against the St. Louis Cardinals.
“You score 19 runs and as a pitcher, all you’ve got to do is go out there and kick the ball at the plate for five innings and get a win,” Samardzija said. “It makes things a lot easier.”
In his past three outings, Samardzija has posted a 1.66 ERA in 21 2/3 innings while earning victories over the Padres, Cardinals and Rockies.
“You just want to go out there and do your job, get outs and kind of not get in the offense’s way right now,” Samardzija said. “Make quick innings, that’s where we’re at as starters.”
• Starter Dereck Rodríguez completed five innings and allowed just one run in the second game.