With most eyes on the MLB Draft in Philadelphia, the Rockies fell in San Francisco on Saturday.
Casey Schmitt hit a three-run homer in the sixth that ended up being the game-winner and ruined an otherwise decent day on the mound from Kyle Freeland. The Rockies offense was held to six hits and their eighth-inning rally came up short.
The win put the Giants (40-55) up 2-1 in the series and dropped the Rockies to 39-58.
Freeland fab for 4 before trouble hit
Freeland (2-8, 7.36 ERA) was on his game for the first four innings. He only allowed
a single from Luis Arraez in the first four frames, retiring the first nine he faced. He even posted five strikeouts in the first four innings. Freeland was pretty effective even through the fifth inning when he gave up a pair of doubles to Bryce Eldridge and Jesus Rodriguez that allowed the Giants to tie the game at 1-1.
It was the three hits in the six that hurt the most. Not so much the back-to-back singles from Heliot Ramos and Arraez, but it was the homer from Schmitt. Schmitt took advantage of a knuckle curve that hung up too high and sent it flying 415 feet to left center field for his 19th homer of the year.
Freeland bounced back with three straight strikeouts — raising his total for the day to nine — to end the inning. One of those included striking out Arraez, the talented hitter who rarely strikes out. The first-inning K was only Arraez’s 16th strikeout of the season.
“I thought Kyle was excellent today. He was efficient, attacked the strike zone, his fastball was really good and his changeup was really good,” Rockies manager Warren Schaeffer said. “I just felt like he was in command of the game. Other than the one swing from Schmitt, it was a really good outing.”
But in a low-scoring affair, a 4-1 deficit seemed insurmountable. Freeland left the game after the sixth inning, having given up four runs on six hits with no walks and nine strikeouts.
Eighth-inning scoring continues
The Rockies entered the eighth inning trailing 4-1, but in true Colorado fashion, managed to shrink the lead. With two outs, Kyle Karros crushed his ninth homer of the year, a 435-foot blast to left center field.
Unfortunately, that’s all the Rockies could muster. After only striking out three times in the first six innings, the Rockies struck out four times in the final three innings. Brett Sullivan and Hunter Goodman each doubled in the game. Schaeffer tried to spark the offense when he put in pinch hitters Cole Carrigg and Willi Castro in the ninth, but both came up empty.
Zach Agnos threw two scoreless innings with one walk and one hit in another solid outing from the Rockies bullpen.
A strange series of off events
The Rockies scored first in a very unusual way. It happened in the third inning when Sullivan, who grew up an hour and a half outside of San Francisco, led off with a double. After Jack McCarthy moved Sullivan to third on a grounder, Mickey Moniak came to the plate. Tyler Mahle was then called for a balk. The umpires met, confirmed the call and sent Sullivan home, putting the Rockies up 1-0.
It got even weirder when Moniak appeared to strike out swinging on a high fastball. Moniak went to take a seat in the dugout, only to be called back because the pitch Mahle threw after the balk didn’t count. Giants manager Tony Vitello argued the call and got ejected in the process. Moniak returned to the plate and hit a single. The Rockies were unable to take advantage, however, as Goodman lined out and TJ Rumfield flied out.
Mahle pitched a gem, giving up only that one run on five hits with three walks and four strikeouts in seven innings.
“He mainly pitched with his fastball. He was really good,” Schaeffer said of Mahle. “He had hop at the top, his splitter vs. the left-handers was good and he just pitched. He used his fastball a ton. We had no answer for him today.”
Other than the homer to Karros, JT Brubaker continued to keep the Rockies quiet to earn his first save of the season.
Up next
The Rockies and Giants will conclude their four-game series on Sunday at 2:05 p.m. at Oracle Park. In their final contest before the All-Star Break, the Rockies will send Michael Lorenzen (3-9, 6.46) to the mound, while Trevor McDonald (3-7, 5.46 ERA) will get the start for San Francisco.
Join the conversation!
Sign up for a user account and get:
- Fewer ads
- Create community posts
- Comment on articles, community posts
- Rec comments, community posts
- New, improved notifications system!
Please keep in mind our Purple Row Community Guidelines when you’re commenting. Thanks!
