Rocky Mountain Heights

Jun 9, 2023 | 2023 Season, Latest Post

by
Greek Giant

The Giants Own the Rockies

With yesterday’s thrilling 6-4 come-from-behind-when-you-looked-dead-in-the-water victory over the Colorado Rockies in Denver the Giants not only swept a series at a very difficult stadium for them, they also won eleven straight games over the NL West Purple-clad, Digger-mascoting foes. The Giants have also won 16 of 19 at Denver Baseball Park. That’s not a typo. Remember all those rough trips when the Rockies were fielding D.J. Lemahieu, Nolan Arenado, Troy Tulowitzki et al? Yeah, me too.

It’s simply amazing, this Giants run against the Rockies.

Cobb’s Perseverance

Yesterday the Giants fell behind 4-1 after a brief 1-0 lead from a Thairo Estrada home run.

In the bottom of the first inning Alex Cobb was a bit wild, hitting a batter and then victimized by seeing-eye soft liners and ground balls. One or two balls in that four-run bottom of the first where hit hard but you could also say Cobb was not thaaaat bad. Indeed, he wasn’t. That the Rockies scored two runs before Cobb recorded an out was an inauspicious beginning to his outing but the veteran red-haired righty fought through it and ended up pitching a gusty five innings, four of which were of the shutout variety. Cobb’s outing was a lesson in perseverance, leadership and character. These are not just emotional baseball cliches. They are real traits in an athlete who never lets the worst of him take over his whole body of work. For a pitcher it means fighting through early runs and other adversity to complete some innings save your bullpen and keep your team in the game for a late-inning comeback.

The Giants Come Back

Cue the Giants heroes at the plate. In the top of the sixth inning J. D. Davis hit what should have been a routine double down the left field line just inside the third base bag. It looked like a hard hit grounder and the Rockies were, for some reason, playing Davis shaded towards left center. Rockies left field Jurickson Profar had to run 2.75 miles from his post to field the Davis knock that was rattling around the left field corner. By the time he fielded and threw Davis, reading the play the entire way on the bases, chugged and slid into third with a one-out triple. Suddenly the Giants had some life and were primed to chip away at that 4-1 deficit. All they needed was a fly ball to the outfield by the next batter, Michael Conforto.

Well, instead, Conforto delivered a blast over the wall and all the Rockies outfielders in right center. Just like that it’s 4-3 Rockies and the Giants are awakened from the dead.

Tyler Rogers escaped a bases-loaded jam in the bottom of the seventh to keep the deficit at one run.

Then in the top of the ninth inning, with Rockies reliever Peirce Johnson trying to save the game for the hometown club, walked the first two batters he faced in Brett Sabol and Yaz. That’s not a good way to stop a losing streak.

Gabe Kapler pulled his magical comeback levers and used Brandon Crawford as a pinch-hitter for Casey Schmitt. That’s not necessarily a move I would have made but what do I know! Crawford then lined a double to right center to tie the game and put runners on second and third.

With nobody out LaMonte Wade Jr then hit a sac fly to deep center to bring home the game-winning run. It’s 5-4 now!

But this is Denver and a one-run lead feels more like a 1/100000th of a run lead.

Up comes Joc Pederson with a two-out single right on a high fastball to score Yaz. It’s 6-4 Giants!

Camilo Doval pitched a scoreless ninth to seal the deal and get his sixteenth save. That makes three wins in a row for the Giants and improves their record to 32-30.

Tonight’s Game

The Giants return home for a three-game series against the Chicago Cubs. Tonight’s game begins at 7:15 PM and features Marcus Stroman, a very hot pitcher, against Anthony Desclafani.