Giants Rockies Baseball

Rockies center fielder Brenton Doyle wears the ceremonial ski helmet and goggles as he returns to the dugout Thursday after hitting a home run off Giants starting pitcher Keaton Winn in the fourth inning Thursday in Denver.

Hitting is contagious and several Colorado Rockies players caught the one-game bug on Thursday.

They raced past the San Francisco Giants 9-1 to avoid a series sweep and used a seven-run fourth inning to do so. It was their most fruitful offensive inning of the year and produced season-best and historic marks for multiple hitters.

Colorado hasn’t won a series in 12 attempts this season after dropping the first two games, further extending their franchise-worst milestone. The series also dropped the Rockies to the worst record in the majors and made their start to 2024 an even more historic mark for the organization.

Here’s a breakdown of the losing series, and the moments that mattered most:

The Moment

Colorado’s momentum was nonexistent when Ezequiel Tovar stepped to the plate to lead off the fourth inning on Thursday.

His triple started a seven-run inning to force San Francisco starter Keaton Winn out of the game after just 51 pitches. Ryan McMahon drove in Tovar on the next pitch as part of Colorado’s season-high six consecutive hits to take a 7-1 lead.

Brenton Doyle’s home run on a hanging splitter amplified the damage after the hit streak and represented his first since April 13 as part of a breakout offensive season. 

Fouling off good pitches, and whiffing through balls outside the zone has plagued the Rockies offense. San Francisco was exposed to the opposite side of that token Thursday. 

“Get a good pitch to hit and don’t miss it,” manager Bud Black said. “We didn’t miss the pitch today.”

Colorado had eight hitters reach base and four did so multiple times in the offensive outburst. 

Takeaway

Colorado rolls when Charlie Blackmon and Ezequiel Tovar do, especially when the two are at the top of the lineup.

Blackmon was in a slump entering the three-game set with the Giants and pressing to be aggressive through it. The result was a 5-for-9 stretch in back-to-back games atop the Rockies lineup and a slump-busting week for the veteran.

Tovar has struggled in recent games too, but on Thursday he became the second Colorado hitter in its history to have multiple extra-base hits in one inning thanks to a triple and double in the fourth. His average was up to .321 on April 21 before falling to .257 entering the San Francisco series.

When the two find success atop the lineup, it becomes contagious.

“We’ve talked about the contagious factor of hitting,” Black said. “We had a decent game yesterday, we made a charge at them late. Today it sort of carried over. We need the guys to swing like that swung the bat today.”

What went right:

Anthony Molina’s relief role has taken a turn for the better and may earn him a greater future opportunity.

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He allowed 11 earned runs in his first two appearances with Colorado. Since then, he’s allowed one in 12⅓ innings and zero in his last six chances. Peter Lambert and Ty Blach have each split time between the bullpen and rotation, and the same mix could be in Molina’s future after being selected in the Rule 5 draft by Colorado this offseason.

“He was a minor league starter just like Peter,” Black said after Wednesday’s 8-6 loss. “He’s 22 years old, he’s young. We’re trying to break him in.

“So far so good as far as how he’s been able to handle the major leagues as far as everything he’s been exposed to.”

What went wrong

Peter Lambert’s re-entry into the rotation hasn’t gone smoothly in 2024.

He found a quick rhythm in 2023 and became one of the team’s more consistent starters. Wednesday, he fell prey to his worst start since 2019. Lambert allowed a season-high seven earned runs on nine hits in three innings. It was the highest allowance since his Aug. 17, 2019 start against Houston in which he allowed nine runs.

Damage came after an 11-pitch first inning without a base runner.

“It just kind of turned pretty quickly,” Lambert said. “I thought I made some pretty good pitches, made some bad pitches obviously, and they seemed to put the bat on the ball on the good pitches and take advantage of the bad pitches.”

The six-run second inning started early. Michael Conforto hit a leadoff home run on a first-pitch fastball. The Giants lined three consecutive singles before they used a safety squeeze bunt play to score another run. Jung Hoo Lee’s double and LaMonte Wade Jr.’s single scored three more.

He has three starts since subbing for Kyle Freeland and a 16.39 ERA in that role through 9⅓ innings.

What’s up next

Colorado hosts defending MLB champion Texas Rangers for a three-game set and will see an old friend over the weekend.

Jon Gray is slated to face his former club for the second time on Friday. He threw five innings against them in 2023 and allowed one earned run in a Rangers’ win. The former Rockies’ starter left in free agency in 2021 after seven years and a 4.59 ERA with them.

Rockies 9, Giants 1

What happened: Colorado had its best offensive inning of the year in the fourth frame and used six consecutive hits and seven runs to earn a lopsided win over the Giants on Thursday and avoid a series sweep.

On the mound: Cal Quantrill got some much-needed run support and returned the favor. He threw six innings and allowed five hits and an earned run with five strikeouts. His ERA is down to 3.94. Victor Vodnik and Jalen Beeks had similar success and combined for three scoreless innings and a pair of strikeouts.

At the plate: Ezequiel Tovar started the seven-run fourth inning with a triple as part of his three hits. Charlie Blackmon also tripled and had three hits, and his two runs driven in pushed him past Nolan Arenado for fourth in Colorado history. Brenton Doyle’s blow loomed largest and his three-run home run put an exclamation point on his two-hit day and the Rockies’ blowup inning. Their 14 hits were tied for the second-most in a game this year.

What’s next: Texas Rangers (RHP Jon Gray, 1-1) at Colorado Rockies (LHP Austin Gomber, 0-2) at 6:40 p.m. on Friday at Coors Field (Rockies.TV).

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