The Rockies flunked their litmus test.
The Giants beat them 5-2 on Sunday at Oracle Park to clinch the four-game series and extend the Rockies’ road misery. Colorado finished 1-5 on a trip through Houston and San Francisco.
“Even though we didn’t score a ton of runs, I thought the at-bats were better, though maybe not today,” manager Bud Black said. “But this year on the road we have just had a very tough time scoring runs.
“We are finding things out about our position players, our lesser-service-time guys, and some of the home-road splits that we’re looking at. But we’ve got to do better, there is no doubt about it.”
The Rockies had departed Colorado in a good place. They were fresh off a 5-1 homestand, and prior to that, they had put together an encouraging — at least for them — 4-6 road trip through the West Coast. But the same old bugaboos that have plagued them on the road all season returned: lack of consistent hitting in the clutch and so-so starting pitching.
The Rockies are hitting .210 away from Coors Field, which is the worst road average in the majors. They are averaging 3.03 runs per game, also the worst. On the six-game trip, they hit .196, were shut out twice, were outscored 28-11 and averaged 1.8 runs per game.
At San Francisco, starters German Marquez (seven runs, four innings) and Austin Gomber (five runs, four innings) both got hit hard.
On Sunday, the Giants knocked Jon Gray off the mound in the fifth inning.
Meanwhile, lefty Alex Wood stymied the Rockies for six innings before they nicked him for two runs in the seventh. Elias Diaz and Charlie Blackmon delivered back-to-back, pinch-hit RBI singles, trimming San Francisco’s lead to 3-2.
It might have been a bigger inning but Diaz, trying to score from second on Connor Joe’s single to right field, was gunned down on a great throw by LaMonte Wade Jr. to end the rally.
“Elias is going on contact and they have to execute a great play,” Black explained. “With two outs, you have to take a chance. Stu (Cole, the third-base coach) sent Elias, and Wade threw an absolute strike to home. If you hold (Diaz), you have to get another base hit potentially. The kid made a good play.”
The Giants put the game away with two runs in the seventh off lefty Ben Bowden, sparked by an error by Joe. The left fielder and center fielder Garrett Hampson both converged on pinch-hitter Kris Bryant’s flyball. Hampson called for the ball but Joe went for it and when the two collided, the ball popped out out of Joe’s glove.
Black explained that Joe was tracking a high flyball in the wind and didn’t want to take his eye off the flyball, so he never saw Hampson calling for the ball.
Pinch-hitter Austin Slater promptly ripped a double to right off Bowden to score Bryant. Slater later came around to score on Wilmer Flores’ single off Robert Stephenson.
Gray was doing just fine for four scoreless innings, aided by groundball double plays to end both the second and third innings. But his fifth inning was a mess. Gray gave up three consecutive singles and uncorked a wild pitch, as San Francisco took a 1-0 lead on Curt Casali’s blooper.
But then Gray walked Wood (who came to the plate hitting 0-for-33) to load the bases. Gray struck out Wade but Tommy LaStella ripped a two-run double off the right-field wall, coming just inches away from a grand slam. Gray’s day was done: 4 1/3 innings, three runs on seven hits, five strikeouts and one walk. It was his second start in a row in which he failed to get out of the fifth inning.
Gray said he thought his stuff was sharp and his only big regret was walking Wood.
“That’s really the only thing I can get mad about, I guess,” Gray said. “The others were just a lot of not very hard-hit balls that found a lot of holes. Same thing with the last game, too. So I guess it’s just one of those stretches that I have to wear. But it’s going to end. I just have to stay positive.”
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Rockies lose to Giants, flunk road trip test, going 1-5 - Canon City Daily Record
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