You could sense the looming disaster.
The Rockies led the San Francisco Giants 3-1 entering the bottom of the sixth when left-handed reliever Ben Bowden took the mound. He promptly walked Alex Dickerson and Brandon Belt — both lefties — before getting Evan Longoria to pop out.
Wily, veteran shortstop Brandon Crawford, another left-handed hitter, knowing that Bowden was struggling with command, worked the count to 3-2. Then he hammered a three-run homer to right on a poorly located fastball that nearly sailed into McCovey Cove at Oracle Park.
Ballgame. Giants 4, Rockies 3.
The obvious question for manager Bud Black: Did he think about lifting Bowden, who made his big-league debut just this season, for another reliever?
“I thought about it, for sure,” Black said. “But I like Ben’s stuff. I think it’s going to play against lefties. Today it didn’t. We talked about it, but decided to go with Ben.”
Recounting the fastball that Crawford hit out, Black said: “He misplaced a fastball that was intended to be away. He threw it down and into the only place that Crawford really has some juice. So, missed location, not throwing a strike when you need to on a full to a couple of previous hitters was (Bowden’s) doom.”
As was the case in a 3-1 loss to the Giants on Friday, walks by relievers cost Colorado dearly, wiping out what could have been a satisfying early-season victory. The Rockies fell to 3-6, the Giants improved to 4-4.
Jeff Chiu, The Associated Press
Colorado Rockies’ Ryan McMahon (24) hits a two-run home run against the San Francisco Giants during the fifth inning of a baseball game in San Francisco, Saturday, April 10, 2021. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)Ryan McMahon, who’s off to a blazing start, hit a monster two-run, 417-foot homer to center in the fifth off starter Logan Webb, giving the Rockies their 3-1 lead. It was McMahon’s fifth homer in nine games (eight starts). He’s hitting .333.
“I’m seeing it good right now, for sure,” McMahon said, and then, when asked if he’s in the best place of his career, he answered, “I felt good in ’19 for some really good stretches, too. It’s early, so we’re going to just keep looking to play some good baseball.”
Right-hander Chi Chi Gonzalez, moving in from the bullpen to make his first start of the season, gave the Rockies exactly what they needed: one run allowed over five innings on four hits. He did walk three but was able to wiggle out of major trouble. He threw 80 pitches, 53 for strikes.
“In the first inning I was a little erratic in the zone, and I guess that’s just the difference between Denver and, I guess, anywhere else,” said Gonzalez, who has a 3.60 ERA. “But I’m happy that I settled in and started commanding my fastball. And I had some good defense behind me.”
The Giants nicked Gonzalez for a run in the third on a leadoff double by Tommy Lastella and an RBI bloop single to left by Dickerson.
Gonzalez said he could have gone deeper than five innings but said he understood that Black had the right-hander on a definite pitch count as the Rockies look to stretch him out as a starter.
“It was really good to see him get to five and get to right around that pitch count we were looking for, at 75-80,” Black said. “I thought he did a good job of moving the ball inside to lefties and I thought he moved the ball around well.
“But (there was) a little bit of a walk in there, probably more than we need moving forward, but I thought his stuff was pretty crisp today like we saw in spring training.”
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Rockies, plagued by walks, lose to Giants, 4-3 - The Denver Post
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