The Colorado Rockies fell to the San Francisco Giants in yet another close, low-scoring game in the Bay Area. This afternoon’s series finale was the last of 17 straight games the Rockies had to play before the All-Star Break. After a hard fought close series in Los Angeles, the Rockies lost four of their final five games of the half.
“It’s disappointing,” said manager Warren Schaeffer after the game. “We come expecting to win every night, but the season isn’t over yet.”
The season so far has been full
of ups and downs, but has also been infinitely more watchable. The Rockies finish the first half with a 39-59 record, a full 17 games better than they were at the All-Star break in last year’s 119-loss campaign.
Now the Rockies will take a well deserved rest in preparation for the true dog days of summer: the second half of the MLB season.
“We’ll come back and get after it on Friday,” said Schaeffer.
Lorenzen gets the job done
Rockies starting pitcher Michael Lorenzen wasn’t necessarily sharp, but he gutted his way through five innings while only giving up one earned run to Giants hitters. Lorenzen entered today’s game having given up more than two earned runs in just one of his last six starts while going at least five innings in all but one outing during that same stretch.
Lorenzen struck out just one batter while giving up five hits and issuing three walks. That one strikeout came in the first inning against Rafael Devers, who came to the plate with runners on first and second with just one out. The Giants would fail to score that inning. Lorenzen worked just two 1-2-3 innings–the second and fifth–and dealt with frequent traffic, but really only had one truly bad inning where the Giants were able to capitalize. In the fourth inning, Lorenzen gave up a walk and back-to-back singles with two outs, allowing the Giants to score their first run of the game. He then issued a walk, but was able to navigate out of the inning with no further damage.
The offense limps into the All-Star break
Let’s get the good parts out of the way.
Jake McCarthy—who has been an electric acquisition for the Rockies this season—kicked off the game with a leadoff inside-the-park home run. It was his second such feat of the season and put the Rockies ahead early.
McCarthy becomes the just the third Rockies player in franchise history to hit two inside-the-park home runs in a single season–joining Brandon Barnes in 2014 and Charlie Blackmon in 2017–and is also the first player to hit two leadoff inside-the-park home runs since 1929.
“If anybody’s going to do it, it’s going to be Jake,” Schaeffer said of the accomplishment when informed after the game.
In addition, Hunter Goodman went 2-for-2 and the Rockies lineup as a whole struck out just six times.
That sadly does it for the positives, as the Rockies’ offense was whisper quiet for most of their final game of the first half. Outside of those two Goodman hits and the McCarthy home run, the Rockies had just one other hit. It came off the bat of Tyler Freeman in the fifth inning.
With the Rockies down to their final out in the ninth inning, rookie center fielder Cole Carrigg fought valiantly to keep the game alive. He worked an 11-pitch at-bat with a full count and fouled the ball off six times. Unfortunately, a sliding catch by Giants outfielder Jung Hoo Lee in shallow right field cemented the Rockies’ loss.
Senzatela blues
Relievers Brennan Bernardino and Jimmy Herget combined to give up just one hit and one walk over their two innings of relief for Lorenzen. Each pitcher recorded a strikeout.
Where things fell apart was when Antonio Senzatela entered the game in the eighth inning.
Senzatela issued a leadoff walk to Devers and a single to Bryce Eldridge to put a runner in scoring position. The pinch runner for Eldridge stole second base and an errant throw from Goodman ended up in the outfield allowing Devers to score the go-ahead run for San Francisco. A Willy Adames single plated another run to put the Rockies behind 3-1 in what would be the final score of the game.
After an incredibly strong start to the season, Senzatela has faltered as the months wear on. Since the start of June, he had a 6.60 ERA over his last 13 appearances, although his 3.17 FIP in that stretch indicates he’s also gotten unlucky.
Coming Up Next
The Rockies are off until Friday for the Midsummer Classic in Philadelphia, where Hunter Goodman will be their sole representative. After the break, they will start a three game series against the Cincinnati Reds at home.
The first game of that series will start at 6:40 PM MDT with right-handed pitcher Brady Singer on the bump for the Redlegs. The Rockies have yet to announce who will start for them.
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