Blalock was solid, but Chapman’s homer erases sixth run rally for the Rox
A disastrous sixth inning quickly negated a solid start on the mound by Bradley Blalock and a rare rally on the road as the Colorado Rockies (6-27) dropped a second straight game to the San Francisco Giants (21-13) on Saturday by a score of 6-3.
Not bad, Bradley
Making his second start of the season in place of the injured Ryan Feltner, Blalock filled in quite nicely on the day. Dueling against Jordan Hicks, Blalock matched the fireballer pitch for pitch, cruising through the first five innings. The only blemish heading into the sixth was a solo home run given up to Luis Matos in the third inning to give the Giants a 1-0 lead as well as a single for Willy Adames in the fourth inning. Blalock got some defensive help when Chapman lined into a double play when Jordan Beck made the catch and fired a bullet to first base to double off Jung Hoo Lee.
However, he ran into trouble in the sixth issuing a couple of walks before being replaced by Jake Bird (more on that in a second). He finished his day having gone 5 1⁄3 innings, giving up three runs on two hits with four strikeouts and two walks on 75 pitches.
Sixth inning drama
Down by a run on the road in San Francisco, the Rockies managed to string together a lead in the top of the sixth against Hicks. Brenton Doyle led off with a walk and eventually came around to score on back-to-back singles from Beck and Ryan McMahon to tie up the game. Randy Rodríguez relieved Hicks and promptly gave up a single to Hunter Goodman to score Beck and give the Rockies the lead. Later, with two outs, Kyle Farmer would hit a ball that was deflected off Rodríguez to score McMahon and give the Rockies a 3-1 lead.
In the bottom of the inning, Blalock walked Matos before getting Brett Wisley to ground out to second base. He then walked Mike Yastrzemski before Bud Black took him out of the game in favor of Jake Bird to face Adames. Bird promptly walked Matos and surrendered a hit to Jung Hoo Lee to score Matos and load the bases. Matt Chapman then hit a grand slam to center field, the third of his career, to give the Giants a 6-3 lead that would hold for the rest of the game.
Bullpen effect
Having pitched at an All-Star level this season, Bird struggled in his 1 1⁄3 innings, giving up three runs on three hits with three walks and three strikeouts. he rebounded after the home run to close out the sixth but gave up a double and issued two walks along with a wild pitch that loaded the bases. He got two outs, but to avoid further damage, the Rockies turned to Jimmy Herget.
Herget has been quietly excellent lately and has continued that trend with 1 1⁄3 scoreless innings, issuing just one walk.
The pitching staff of the day had seven strikeouts, but issued seven walks starting in the sixth inning and those walks in the sixth came back to haunt them.
Offensive inconsistency
The rally in the sixth was nice, but it was another note in the Rockies inability to get a consistent offense. They had five hits in the game, led by Farmer’s 2-for-4 effort, but four of those hits came in one inning. They also failed to get an extra base hit on the day as they struck out nine times and drew three walks while going 3-for-7 with runners in scoring position.
Up next
The Rockies will close out the series by having to face off against Logan Webb of the Giants. Germán Márquez will take the mound looking to bounce back and right the ship after a rough start to the season.
First pitch will be at 2:05 p.m. MDT.
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