Giants cruise to sweep of Rockies

SAN FRANCISCO >> Led by a lightsout starting rotation and an offense that’s blasting timely home runs, the 6-3 Giants cruised to a sweep of the Rockies at Oracle Park and have now won four straight games.

After going 29-31 in an abbreviated 60-game season last summer, the Giants are back over .500 in the Gabe Kapler era (3534) and built off a series win over the Padres by limiting the Rockies to four runs in this weekend’s three-game set.

Behind six shutout innings from right-hander Anthony DeSclafani, the Giants won 4-0 Sunday and recorded the team’s first shutout since September 13, 2019, when Tyler Beede tossed eight scoreless frames in a 1-0 win over the Marlins.

A stellar outing from DeSclafani dropped the Giants’ rotation ERA to 2.24 on the season as the club has now had their starters log at least five innings in nine consecutive games to open the season. That streak is the thirdlongest in franchise history, trailing only the 2002 club (12 starts) and the 1937 team (10 starts).

“They’ve been outstanding,” first baseman Brandon Belt said of the starters. “We know from back in the day when we were winning championships that pitching and defense wins you a lot of baseball games. We’ve seen that early on here and they’ve really picked up our offense.”

A Giants lineup that has yet to break a game wide open gave DeSclafani an early lead to protect as left fielder Alex Dickerson launched a solo home run over the right center field wall before Evan Longoria drove in Brandon Belt from second on a single up the middle.

“I think we’re still not where we can be offensively, I think that’s one thing that has a chance to be exciting if that starts to click,” Kapler said. “Belt mentioned that before he went up for an at-bat, he just said, ‘I think we’re really close.’”

The Giants immediately forced Rockies righty Germán Márquez