If a team is going to be historically bad, it\u2019s going to take negative contributions from everyone.<\/p>\n
The bullpen has been one of the few relative strengths for the Colorado Rockies this season, but for the second straight night, a promising evening of baseball in LoDo ended with a meltdown. One day after blowing a four-run lead in the ninth inning, the Rockies gave away a three-run advantage Wednesday in the eighth as the San Francisco Giants rallied for an 10-7 win in front of 23,532 at Coors Field.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been brutal for us out there,\u201d Rockies relief pitcher Tyler Kinley said. \u201cWe feel like we should have come away with a series win tonight and had a chance to sweep tomorrow against a good team, a potential playoff team. It\u2019s been tough. The past two nights have been tough, for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n
The result was another dispiriting loss in a season full of them. Colorado is now 12-55, and has found its way into another losing streak \u2014 five straight after sweeping the Marlins in Miami last week.<\/p>\n
Kinley faced six batters in the top of the eighth. He got one out.<\/p>\n
Three softly-hit singles, a bases-loaded walk and a two-run, bases-loaded double chased Kinley and leveled the score at 6-6. Initially, it appeared Ryan McMahon made a great defensive play to get Casey Schmitt at the plate after a bunt from Tyler Fitzgerald, but the Giants challenged the call and it was overturned.<\/p>\n
San Francisco had a 7-6 lead, and the final damage against Kinley was four runs on four hits and a walk.<\/p>\n
\u201cA couple of pitches were up and a couple balls fell in, but you\u2019ve still got to navigate that,\u201d Kinley said. \u201cYou\u2019ve still got to get outs, regardless. Tonight, I was not able to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Giants tacked on three more insurance run in the top of the ninth off Zach Agnos, who has now allowed 10 runs in his past four outings. His ERA has ballooned from 1.50 to 5.48 in six days.<\/p>\n
Rockies starter Kyle Freeland outpitched a guy in the Cy Young conversation and pieced together his third straight quality start. He allowed three runs on six hits in six innings, and got the run support that has often been missing during some of his better outings this season.<\/p>\n
He was 0-8 with an ERA pushing 6.00 after a disastrous Memorial Day weekend start against the Yankees, but Freeland has allowed six earned runs in 18 1\/3 innings across his three outings since. He has just one win to show for it.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou hate to keep saying it over and over again, but it\u2019s true \u2014 Kyle Freeland competes,\u201d Rockies interim manager Warren Schaeffer said. \u201cHe knows how to adjust. He knows how to adjust on the fly, and he did that tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n
Robbie Ray has been one of the best pitchers in the National League, but he\u2019s been particularly effective of late. He had allowed just eight runs in his past seven starts, dating back to May 2, and entered the night tied for the league lead with eight wins.<\/p>\n
The Rockies found a way against him in the bottom of the third, and erased a 3-0 deficit. Hunter Goodman\u2019s second double of the night scored one run. A harmless ground ball to second off the bat of Thairo Estrada added a second, but first baseman Jerar Encarnacion didn\u2019t corral the throw and Goodman hustled around from second to tie it.<\/p>\n
A Keston Hiura single capped off the rally and put Colorado in front. And as the middle of the game progressed, the Rockies extended the lead against one of the NL\u2019s better bullpens.<\/p>\n
Brenton Doyle singled, stole second and scored on an Orlando Arcia base hit just inside the first base bag to make it a 5-3 lead in the fifth. A leadoff triple from Ryan Ritter and a sacrifice fly from Tyler Freeman gave Colorado its own three-run advantage.<\/p>\n
\u201cOffensively, we made a really good pitcher in Robbie Ray work hard, and that\u2019s good for us,\u201d Schaeffer said. \u201cWe haven\u2019t gotten to many starters in the past couple weeks, and we did today.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was good, good stuff today from the offense.\u201d<\/p>\n
The night did not start well for Freeland. Seven pitches into his outing, the Giants had a two-run lead.<\/p>\n
Jung Hoo Lee drew a leadoff walk, and then Willy Adames connected on a 1-0 fastball for a 452-foot moonshot into the centerfield seats. Adames, the Giants\u2019 prized offseason addition, came to Denver in the midst of the worst offensive season of his career but now has home runs in back-to-back games to start this series.<\/p>\n
Lee tripled down the right-field line to lead off the third and scored on an Adames sacrifice fly to make it 3-0, and it looked like another long night for the home team was brewing at Coors Field.<\/p>\n
For a few fleeting innings, the Rockies turned it around. Then, there was just another low point.<\/p>\n
The back-to-back collapses against the Giants left the Rockies at 6-27 in their first 33 home games this season. Not only is that the worst start to a season at home in franchise history, it\u2019s the worst 33-game stretch at any point.<\/p>\n
And everyone is finding a way to contribute.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019ve got to look at the positives and work on the negatives,\u201d Freeland said. \u201cWe\u2019ve got to play complete baseball games. We\u2019re so close to playing complete baseball games, but in one aspect or another, we\u2019re not tightening things up and buttoned it up all the way how we need to.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve played fantastic baseball the past two nights, and there\u2019s just one or two little hiccups that cost us again.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thursday\u2019s pitching matchup<\/p>\n
Giants RHP Hayden Birdsong (3-1, 2.55 ERA) at Rockies RHP Antonio Senzatela (1-10, 6.68)<\/p>\n
1:10 p.m., Thursday, Coors Field<\/p>\n
TV: Rockies.TV (streaming); Comcast\/Xfinity (channel 1262); DirecTV (683); Spectrum (130, 445, 305, 435 or 445, depending on region).<\/p>\n
Radio: 850 AM\/94.1 FM<\/p>\n
Trending: Orlando Arcia made appearances at five positions (1B, 2B, SS, 3B and DH) in his first seven games with the Rockies. It\u2019s no secret the club is desperate for more offense. Baseball Reference has a metric similar to WAR (wins above replacement) called Wins Above Average (WAA) and sorts it by position. Entering Wednesday night, the Rockies have the worst WAA in the majors this season at first base (-1.9), second base (-2.3), outfield (-3.6) and designated hitter (-1.2), and are in the bottom five at catcher (-1.1) and shortstop (-0.9).<\/p>\n
Pitching probables<\/p>\n
Friday: Rockies RHP German Marquez (2-8, 7.00) at Braves RHP Bryce Elder (2-3, 4.08), 5:15 p.m.<\/p>\n
Saturday:\u00a0Rockies RHP Chase Dollander (2-6, 6.85) at Braves RHP Spencer Strider (0-5, 5.40), 2:10 p.m.<\/p>\n
Sunday: Rockies LHP Carson Palmquist (0-4, 7.77) at Braves LHP Chris Sale (4-4, 2.79), 11:35 a.m.<\/p>\n