The Rockies and Giants found themselves in a tight ball game through five.
Then the Rockies pulled away.
Colorado overcame a poor start from Gabriel Hughes, drew 10 walks and scored nine runs over the final five innings to beat the San Francisco Giants 13-7 at Oracle Park.
The Rockies improved to 50-74, while San Francisco fell to 51-73. Colorado won the rubber match, took the season series and finished its nine-game road trip with a winning record.
Nick Frasso earned the win to improve to 1-1, while
Sam Hentges took the loss and fell to 1-5.
Adael Amador reached three times and hit his first home run of the season. Mickey Moniak drove in three runs, Brett Sullivan added a three-run homer and Cole Carrigg drove in two. But it was Zac Veen who supplied the play of the day.
Hughes throws more strikes, but Giants keep getting to him
Gabriel Hughes threw more strikes Sunday.
The results were still poor.
Hughes allowed seven runs on eight hits over 4.0 innings, with one walk and two strikeouts. He threw 81 pitches before leaving after walking Bryce Eldridge to open the fifth. That inherited runner eventually scored.
Notably, Hughes used his four-seam fastball 44% of the time, down from his season rate of roughly 57%, while increasing his sinker usage to 15%. He continued to mix four other secondary pitches around them.
His four-seamer averaged 92.5 mph.
Visually, the pitch looked flat. More importantly, the arsenal did not miss enough bats.
Hughes generated six whiffs on 38 swings, a 16% rate. His 53% zone rate was an improvement from his previous two starts, but the Giants kept making contact and extending plate appearances.
The first inning offered an early example of how the contact did not always need to be authoritative.
Rafael Devers lifted an opposite-field pop that dropped just fair in front of Jordan Beck, then hustled into second with a headfirst slide just ahead of the tag. Bryce Eldridge followed with a soft single to center to score him. Hughes recovered to end the inning with a strikeout.
The second inning was much worse.
All four San Francisco runs came with two outs.
Hughes struck out Christian Koss for the second out with two runners aboard, then immediately got Drew Gilbert into an 0-2 count with a slider and changeup for called strikes.
Gilbert fouled off a 94.2 mph four-seamer before lining another four-seamer into center for an RBI single.
Hughes had leverage.
Devers added on in a big way.
Hughes fell behind 2-0 before working the count back even. Devers fouled off a curveball and slider, took a sinker to run the count full and then went down to get an 81.4 mph curveball only 0.91 feet off the ground.
The pitch was below the zone and in.
Devers still hit it 105.5 mph at a 25-degree launch angle and sent it 380 feet into McCovey Cove on the fly for his 25th home run.
The three-run shot turned a 4-2 Rockies lead into a 5-4 deficit.
Devers deserves credit. Hughes did not hang a curveball over the middle of the plate.
But the problem for Hughes was broader than one swing. He repeatedly reached counts where he needed a pitch capable of producing a miss, foul ball or manageable contact, and the Giants kept getting the bat to the ball.
That included the fastball.
Hughes allowed five hits on 10 balls in play against his four-seamer despite an average exit velocity of only 78.2 mph and just one hard-hit ball.
The pitch avoided loud contact. It did not avoid hits.
The pattern continued in the third.
Jung Hoo Lee worked from a 3-1 count to full, fouled off multiple pitches and drove a ball deep to right-center before Veen made a jumping catch just shy of the wall.
Osleivis Basabe then doubled down the left-field line after an unusual sequence in which Hughes elected to let a check-swing dribbler roll foul rather than attempt a play.
After Hughes recorded the second out, Turner Hill lined a 92.2 mph four-seamer off the plate into right for his first MLB hit and second RBI.
It was another two-out run.
Hughes finally posted a zero in the fourth.
Troy Johnston committed his fourth error on a slow chopper, losing the ball on the exchange while Hughes covered first. Hughes helped erase the mistake by catching Gilbert too far off first, and Johnston chased him down between first and second for the tag.
Devers grounded out to second to finish Hughes’ first scoreless inning.
Hughes returned for the fifth after Colorado tied the game 6-6, but fell behind Eldridge 3-0 and eventually walked him on five pitches.
That ended his start.
The strike-throwing was better than it had been recently.
The putaway quality was not.
Rockies stay patient against Tidwell
Blade Tidwell had a different problem.
The Rockies did not hit him particularly hard.
They also refused to chase enough to let him control the game.
Tidwell allowed six runs on three hits over 4.1 innings with five walks and one strikeout. He generated only three whiffs on 25 swings, while Colorado chased just 22% of his pitches outside the zone.
His sweeper remained his most-used pitch at 33%, but produced only two whiffs. His four-seamer averaged 94.1 mph, 1.7 mph below his season average, and his slider and curveball showed less depth than their season averages.
Colorado produced four hard-hit balls against him and averaged 85.4 mph on 13 balls in play.
The Rockies did a much better job controlling their swing decisions.
The first inning ended when Mickey Moniak lined into an unassisted double play.
The second brought another unfortunate double play.
Willi Castro walked, Johnston singled and Veen beat out a slow grounder to second to tie the game.
Jordan Beck then hit a line drive glove-side toward shortstop Christian Koss at about head level. Koss got his glove on it, but the ball kicked away.
Johnston had started back toward second because the ball appeared catchable. The Giants recovered to retire Veen at second and tag Johnston at third.
Colorado kept the inning alive.
Sullivan walked, bringing Amador to the plate.
Amador had been recalled several days earlier but had only pinch-hit Saturday before receiving his first start Sunday.
He needed one pitch.
Tidwell threw a 94.8 mph four-seamer up and in, and Amador turned on it.
The ball left his bat at 102.3 mph with a 36-degree launch angle and traveled 374 feet. It landed on the concourse in right and took one large bounce into McCovey Cove. It was Amador’s first home run of 2026, and the three-run shot gave Colorado a 4-1 lead.
Tidwell recovered well.
He retired Jake McCarthy to finish the second, then worked 1-2-3 innings in the third and fourth to retire seven straight.
His fourth-inning matchup with Beck showed how the sweeper could work when Colorado expanded.
Tidwell threw Beck four consecutive sweepers. The first was a called strike, Beck fouled off the second, took the third outside and chased the fourth well off the plate for strike three.
But Tidwell eventually lost the zone.
Amador walked with one out in the fifth. McCarthy followed with another walk, ending Tidwell’s afternoon.
San Francisco brought in the left-handed Hentges, flipping Carrigg to the right side, and he skipped a double down the third-base line to score Amador and cut the deficit to 6-5.
Moniak followed in a left-on-left matchup.
He fell behind 0-2 but lifted a fly ball deep enough to center to score McCarthy for his 55th RBI and tie the game.
Colorado had turned Tidwell’s two fifth-inning walks into two runs.
That became a recurring theme.
Veen sets the tone as the Rockies take over
The Giants briefly took the lead back in the bottom of the fifth.
Hughes walked Eldridge before leaving, and Nick Frasso entered with nobody out. Frasso’s fastball-changeup combination immediately stood out. Against Hill, he threw four consecutive changeups, showed a 98.4 mph four-seamer, then returned to an 83.1 mph changeup for a swinging strikeout.
The command was less consistent.
Frasso hit Basabe and allowed a single to Drew Cavanaugh to load the bases. After striking out Hill for the second out, Frasso got Buddy Kennedy into an 0-2 count.
Then he missed with four straight pitches.
The bases-loaded walk forced home Eldridge and gave San Francisco a 7-6 lead. Frasso came back to strike out Koss on three pitches, finishing him with an 83.2 mph changeup.
Colorado answered immediately.
Johnston walked to open the sixth. Veen attempted to bunt him over, but Cavanaugh pounced on the ball in front of the plate and cut Johnston down at second.
Beck walked, and Sullivan grounded out to move Veen to third and Beck to second.
Then came the play of the game.
JT Brubaker buried a pitch in the dirt to Amador. Cavanaugh blocked it and kept the ball underneath him, but could not locate it.
Veen never hesitated.
He broke immediately and dove headfirst across the plate before San Francisco could recover.
Tie game.
The ball barely got away from the catcher.
Veen saw enough.
That was the best example of the energy and edge Colorado’s young players brought to the game.
Amador walked.
McCarthy walked.
With the bases loaded, Brubaker spiked another pitch and hit Carrigg on the foot. Beck scored and Colorado took an 8-7 lead.
San Francisco went to left-hander Reiver Sanmartin to face Moniak.
Moniak won the matchup.
He lined a two-run single into left. Turner Hill bobbled the ball as Amador and McCarthy scored, and Moniak reached second.
Colorado led 10-7.
At that point, the Rockies had scored 10 runs on five hits.
They were not overwhelming Giants pitchers with hard contact.
They were putting runners on base and forcing San Francisco to keep pitching under pressure.
Parker Mushinski worked around a walk in the sixth. Jimmy Herget followed with a scoreless seventh, getting Kennedy to swing through a sweeper to finish the inning.
Then Colorado added three more.
Connor Norby, who had entered as part of the defensive changes, lined a 100.9 mph single to left and stole second for his eighth stolen base.
Beck appeared to strike out, but Colorado challenged the call.
The ruling was overturned.
Beck walked.
That brought Sullivan to the plate.
Sullivan fell behind 0-2 against Keaton Winn, fought off another pitch and then turned on a 95.4 mph four-seamer on the inner half.
He lifted it high down the right-field line and over the tall wall for his seventh homer.
The three-run shot made it 13-7.
The successful challenge kept the inning alive. Sullivan made it count.
Zach Agnos handled the final two innings.
Colorado’s defense contributed to the sloppiness at points, but also recovered.
In the eighth, a sharply hit ball went glove-side on Castro, caught the edge of his web and kicked toward short. Ezequiel Tovar recovered and threw to first, but Koss beat it out for a single.
Norby immediately started a 4-6-3 double play.
Agnos returned for the ninth and finished it with a strikeout, another strikeout and a soft grounder after allowing a one-out single.
Colorado’s relievers allowed no runs of their own over the final 5.0 innings. The only Giants run after Hughes left belonged to Hughes after Frasso allowed the inherited runner to score.
Final thoughts
This was not a clean game. There were defensive mistakes, command problems, a failed bunt and plenty of opportunities created by poor execution.
Amador finished 1-for-1 with his first homer of the season, three runs, three RBI and two walks.
Veen went 1-for-3 with an RBI, but his box-score line misses his biggest contribution. His sixth-inning dash home changed the inning. The pitch never got far from Cavanaugh. Veen simply recognized that the catcher did not know where the ball was and committed immediately.
Beck scored three times and walked twice.
Carrigg reached three times and drove in two.
Sullivan drove in three with his seventh-inning homer.
Colorado finished 5-for-9 with runners in scoring position and left only four runners on base.
The Rockies also drew 10 walks, and eight of those walks eventually scored.
Colorado did not consistently hit the ball hard, but it controlled the zone, accepted the free bases and converted most of them.
The Rockies’ younger players kept playing with an edge, with Veen’s run home providing the clearest example.
Frasso getting the win also says plenty about the usefulness of pitcher wins as an individual stat.
He entered a 6-6 game, allowed Hughes’ inherited runner to score on a bases-loaded walk, then became the pitcher of record when Colorado scored four times in the next half-inning.
The Rockies did not need a clean game Sunday.
They just needed to keep answering.
Up next
The Rockies and Dodgers open a three-game series Monday night at Coors Field, with first pitch scheduled for 6:40 p.m. MDT.
Colorado will send Tomoyuki Sugano to the mound. The right-hander enters the game 12-5 with a 4.43 ERA and 66 strikeouts and has been steady over his last seven starts, going 5-1 with a 4.24 ERA and 1.09 WHIP.
Los Angeles will counter with Blake Snell, who comes in 0-1 with a 5.00 ERA and 15 strikeouts. It will be just his second start since returning from the injured list. In his first start back, Snell held the Royals to one run on three hits over six innings while striking out 10 and walking one.
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