COLORADO CRUISING
Sellout crowd sees Colorado lift record to 45-26
Seventy-one games into the season, Colorado’s record is 45-26. That’s after beating the Giants 5-1 on Saturday.
A river of hits continued to flood Coors Field on Saturday, one line-drive single after another. In the Rockies’ 5-1 drowning of the San Francisco Giants — their fourth consecutive victory and baseball-best 12th win in June — every Colorado hitter but one put bat to ball successfully.
But after his team scored 10 runs on consecutive nights Thursday and Friday, first-year Rockies outfielder Ian Desmond pressed for more.
“Not to sound greedy, but I think there’s more in this lineup,” Desmond said. “There’s a lot there. It’s a really good lineup. When we all get clicking, it’s going to be fun.”
By Saturday, with a sellout crowd of 48,035 wondering what else Desmond could really demand, the Rockies nailed 14 more hits, 13 of them singles. Only pinch-hitter Alexei Amarista went without one. In three games against the cratering Giants, the Rockies have collected 44 hits.
Colorado catcher Tony Wolters singled in the second inning, the third of three singles in a row, to score Carlos Gonzalez. And his single in the fifth brought in Desmond. Wolters, Desmond, rookie Raimel Tapia and shortstop Trevor Story all finished with two hits. The Rockies scored each of their five runs with two outs.
“All we think about is getting on base for the next guy,” Wolters said. “If we keep thinking that, our guys with power will hit bombs. Our guys who get on base will get on base even more. Just get on base.”
Rockies rookie Pat Valaika, pinch hitting in the seventh, blooped a double in front of Hunter Pence in right field — his team’s only extra-base hit.
“In the books, hopefully it’s a belt off the wall or something,” Valaika said.
Denver native Kyle Freeland, the Rockies rookie who started on the mound, joined the singles scene with one of his own in the fourth. And the Giants did not shy from the parade either, pegging him for eight hits. But only Nick Hundley’s double in the fourth went for extra bases. The Giants finished with 10 hits in the game — but only one run. Freeland, a 23year-old lefty, improved to 8-4 with a 3.42 ERA.
“He limited the real big blow,” Colorado manager Bud Black said. “There were a lot of singles today. That tells me there was some pretty good pitching.”
Freeland was strained only once, in the sixth, when Brandon Belt came to bat as a pinch hitter with runners on first and second. In a 2-2 count, the catcher Wolters called for a fastball, Freeland’s best pitch. Freeland shook off the sign because he wanted a slider. He stepped off the rubber. Wolters stared back and shook his head, overruling his pitcher.
“I said, ‘All right, let’s do it,’ ” Freeland said. “Me vs. him. Let’s go.”
Freeland struck out Belt on a 92 mph cutting fastball. In seven starts at Coors Field, Freeland has allowed one run or none in four.
“He pumped me up, man,” Wolters said. “He jumped off that mound, starting fist-pumping. I heard him yelling. I don’t know what he said. But I love that energy.”
The first-place Rockies (45-26) posted an eighth consecutive win over the Giants (26-44), who fell 18½ games back in last place in the National League West. That is Colorado’s longest winning streak against a division opponent in the club’s 25-year history. The Rockies have won 11 of their past 14 overall.
Adam Ottavino struck out two in a 1-2-3 eighth and Jake McGee got Joe Panik to line into a gameending unassisted double play to first baseman Mark Reynolds as the Rockies’ bullpen found its footing after two previous troublesome nights.
“We are trying to be greedy,” Story said. “We trying not to give away at-bats, no matter what the score is, how close or how far away. We’re trying to take every at-bat like it’s our last.”