Thairo Estrada of the San Francisco Giants thanks the good Lord for the ability to take the Colorado Rockies deep for a three run homer in the bottom fifth inning at Oracle Park in San Francisco on Fri May 17, 2024 (AP News photo)
Colorado (15-29). 310 001 000 5 11 0
San Francisco (21-25). 100 140 22x. 10. 14 0
Time: 3:01
Attendance: 32,025
May 17, 2024
By Lewis Rubman
SAN FRANCISCO– Friday night’s lopsided San Francisco Giants defeat of the Colorado Rockies might have signaled a change in the two teams’ momentum. The Rox came to Oracle Park Friday night with a winning streak of seven games.
The Giants were decently rested for a change after playing 15 days without a break, losing ten of them, one of those being the last of their three game series in Denver. Jorge Soler’s return from the IL boded well for the Giants’ recovery but was offset by the confirmation of Jung Hoo-Lee’s diagnosis of a torn labrum.
His recovery will put him out of action for the rest of the season. In other roster moves, Keaton Winn was placed on the 15 day injured list retroactive to May 15, when he strained his right forearm, and Casey Schmitt was optioned back to the River Cats.
San Francisco’s starting pitcher, Mason Black, has risen quickly through the Giants’ farm system since his selection as their third round pick in the 2021 draft. The 24 year old right hander has a five pitch repertoire in which sweepers, four seamers and sinkers predominate.
Friday night was the third time Black started in the big leagues, and he brought a record of 0-1, 6.23 with him. He gave up a run on four hits and a walk in his last performance in the show and was optioned to Sacramento, from whose roster they recalled him Friday.
He was ineffective Friday night and was removed after hitting Jacob Stallings with a pitch to open the visitors’ fourth. He had thrown 50 pitches in his 3+ innings of work; 34 of them counted as strikes. The Rockies scored four runs against him, all of them earned, on six hits. He didn’t walk anyone, but his strikes found too much of the strike zone. He got a no decision tht left him at 0-1, 7.71.
Colorado’s starter, Ryan Feltner, their fourth round choice in 2018 draft, rose rapidly in their organization, skipping triple A to jump from Hartford in the Eastern League to the mile-high city in 2021. But since then, his road towards success has been a rocky one.
In the second inning of a Colorado-Philadelphia game on May 13 of last year, the Phillies’ Nick Castellanos smacked a line drive that fractured Feltner’s skull. He wasn’t able to throw a pitch in the majors until September 19 and finished the season at 2-4, 5.82. He was 1-3, 5.20 when he came to work Friday, and, after taking the loss Friday night, his record stood at 1-4, 5.69. He had lasted a scant 4+ frames and allowed five runs all earned, on seven hits and two walks while striking out two.
The Blake Street Bombers stomped on Black from the get-go. The first four Rockies he faced, Charlie Blackmon, Ezéquiel Tovar, Ryan McMahon, and Brendan Rogers, lashed drives; Blackmon’s for a single, the others for two bases. All but one of them just missed getting snared by an infielder as they zipped by.
The Giants, down 3-0 before taking their first swing, reacted quickly. LaMonte Wade, Jr. walked with one out. Estrada forced him out at second, but shortstop Tovar’s relay to first pulled Elelhuris Monero off the bag, and the Giants’ second baseman was safe at first. Matt Chapman drove him home with a ringing double to right.
Colorado took that run back with one down in their half of the second. Their number nine hitter, Jordan Beck, deposited an 81 mph sweeper over the fence in straight away center field, 410 feet from the plate, for his second round tripper of the year.
The Rockies almost struck again in the fourth, but Sean Hjelle, who inherited a runner from Black and then surrendered a double to Monero that put runners on second and third, slammed the door on them.
SF chipped away at Colorado’s lead when the home team batted in the fourth. Mike Yastrzemski survived The Curse of the Leadoff Double when, after advancing to third of Héliot Ramos’s productive ground out to second, he cruised home on Luis Matos’s two bagger to left. That closed the gap to 4-2.
They went ahead before Feltner could get an out when he faced his hosts in their next turn at the plate. Soler singled to center, to right, and Estrada sent a 94 mph four seamer 370 feet into the chill of the night and the left field bleachers for his seventh home run of 2024. It also sent Feltner to the showers and Victor Vodnik to the mound. Singles by Chapman, Yaz, and Matos increased the Giants’ lead to 6-4.
Luke Jackson came on in the sixth, retired his first two opponents, and walked Blackmon, who took second on a wild pitch to Tovar, who proceeded to slam a double off the National Car Rental advertisement in left, to slice San Francisco’s advantage to a razor thin 6-5.
That brought Erik Miller into the fray. He walked McMahon on a full count, drawing boos from the crowd that disapproved of third base umpire Ryan Blakney’s ruling that McMahon had checked his swing in time. Nonetheless, Miller escaped the inning without allowing another Rockie to cross the plate.
Ryan Walker set them down in order in the top of the sixth. Jake Bird held the Giants scoreless on a walk to Soler that was wiped out when Estrada hit into a 4- 6-3 double play. The Rockies’ righty continued into the home seventh, when he began things by plunking Chappy and walking Yastrzemski.
After Ramos made out on an infield fly, both runners advanced a base wild pitch to Matos, who eventually ground out, 1-3, on a checked swing, allowing Chapman to score. Colorado reasonably chose to grant Sabol an intentional walk in order to face Marco Luciano, who responded by getting his first hit of the season, a solid RBI single to right that drove in Yastrzemski to up the Giants’ lead to 8-5.
Tyler the Submariner Rogers hit Blackmon with a pitch in the top of the eighth, but that was the only flaw in his one inning on the mound.
San Francisco rocked Anthony Molina, who tried to shut them down in their half of the frame. After Wade wiffed, Estrada lined a single to right, and Chapman legged out a double to left center that brought Estrada to within 90 feet of home. Yastrzemski fouled out to third, and Ramos worked a walk to clog the basepaths, bringing up Ramos. He hooked a double over a leaping McMahon at third and into left that plated Estrada and Chapman.
That gave Randy Rodríguez a 10-5 cushion when he faced McMahon, Rogers, and Doye, the heart of the Rockies order in the ninth. He got the first two, striking out Rogers but walked Doyle on a full count. He took second on defensive indifference during Jake Cave’s at bat.
Cave beat out a slow roller to short on which Doyle moved to third. Now Stallings was up, and, even though we weren’t at Coors Field, a five run lead in the ninth didn’t seem quite as secure as it had a few minutes earlier. But Stallings flew out to center, and the Giants had prevailed.
It remains to be seen if the signal provided by Friday night’s results is reliable. The next two games in the current series might well clarify the situation. Saturday’s game time will be 1:05, and the probable starting pitchers are Ty Blach (1-0, 3) for the purple mountains’ majesties and Kyle Harrison (3-1, 3.42) for the orange and black.
Sports Radio Service 