#29 and #30
Tuesday 4th May 2021 — San Francisco Giants vs Colorado Rockies @ Coors Field
A cancelled game on Monday night forced the Rockies into a double header with the red hot San Francisco Giants on Tuesday. Coming off a disappointing series loss against the Diamondbacks, Colorado were back on their favoured turf trying to right the ship.
Game 1
Game 1 is the reason I’m only publishing one post on the double header. That is because the Rockies basically collapsed before the game even got going.
German Marquez, the Rockies’ ace, was given the nod for the first game of the doubleheader. What followed was probably the worst inning I’ve ever seen a professional baseball team play. The Rockies’ conceded 10 runs in the first half inning and it was a cacophony or errors from across the defence. Marquez was frankly awful — he couldn’t control his fastball and came out the game after only 36 pitches, having conceded eight earned runs. The Rockies’ faced loaded bases twice in the inning — one went for a grand slam and the other allowed the Giants to score two run. Jhoulys Chacin came in after German and conceded a further two earned runs. In all, it was just a horrendous inning and the game was out of reach within the first half an hour of playing.
The only positive thing to come out of this game was a grand slam that Raimel Tapia hit in the 4th inning. Garrett Hampson got on to leadoff the inning, and was followed by singles from Dom Nunez and Josh Fuentes to set up the big swing by Taps.
I can’t drum up the right words to truly express how terrible the performance in the first game was. Fortunately, the Rockies had another game immediately after to try and rectify their atrocious start.
Game 2
For large swathes of the 2nd game, it looked as though the Rockies would fare similarly to the 1st game of the day. Brandon Belt continued a ridiculous set of 1st innings across the two games — he finished with 7 RBIs across two 1st innings; ridiculous production. The Giants were out in front early again, and were in control of the game right until the final inning. But baseball is mysterious game and even when it seems like the game has completely gone, something wonderful happens.
Heading into the bottom of the 7th, the Rockies were behind 6–2. With one out, Alan Trejo scored himself a single. What followed was a ridiculous series of events - the Rockies were down to their final out and had only manged to get runners in scoring position for the time in the final half inning.
Trevor Story struck first, scoring a 2-run double to bring the score to within two. He was followed by Ryan McMahon, who got himself another RBI to bring the score to within one. A blooper by CJ Cron saw two Rockies make base as Charlie Blackmon stepped into the batters box. Out of nowhere, Charlie whacks a HR to walk the Giants off and cap a frankly miraculous comeback by the Rockies. Heading into the final half inning, it looked certain that the Rockies’ would be dropping another game, but some fortune from above allowed the Rockies to pull out the win and level the series at 1–1 with one game to play.
When all was said and done, what a day!
Pretty much from the first pitch of the first game, the Rockies were down and out. The malaise continued for 13 innings, until the Rockies mustered some courage and turned the series on its head with a ridiculous 7th inning in the 2nd game. It sort of helped you forget how terrible they were for the rest of the day!
One more game against the Giants tomorrow to close out the series. They there’s a big big away series against the St Louis Cardinals and the Rockies’ former darling — Nolan Arenado.