Giants' offense erupts to rally past Rockies for 7th straight win, but historic streak ends

San Francisco Chronicle​

a day ago

DENVER — Making it even more difficult on themselves than usual Wednesday at Coors Field, the San Francisco Giants casually concocted comeback magic yet again.
San Francisco entered the eighth inning down by three runs, thanks in part to an inexplicable error by Jerar Encarnacion that helped to shorten Robbie Ray's evening, and they put together a string of bloops, a gritty walk from Casey Schmitt, a liner off the wall by Mike Yastrzemski and a safety squeeze bunt by Tyler Fitzgerald to hatch their 20th come-from-behind win of the season by an uncharacteristically hearty 10-7 score.
The Giants have won seven in a row, but their string of one-run wins came to an end at six. Until they tacked on three in the ninth, they'd been in line to tie the major-league record for consecutive one-run wins set by the Cubs from June 6-12, 1927. They remain a half-game behind the Dodgers in the NL West.
There was the requisite weirdness involved: Schmitt initially was called out at the plate on Fitzgerald's bunt, with Ryan McMahon zipping a throw home, but manager Bob Melvin — who'd failed to get a replay-review request in early enough the previous inning — leaped from the dugout signalling for a review and the call was quickly reversed.
San Francisco hadn't had a man in scoring position since the third when Tyler Kinley gave up soft singles to Willy Adames, Heliot Ramos and, with one out, pinch hitter Dominic Smith. Schmitt walked on eight pitches, fouling off three sliders in the process, and that sent in one run, then Yastrzemski, on an RBI tear and at the ballpark he loves to hit at, banged a double off the high wall in right center to tie it up.
Fitzgerald's safety squeeze provided just his second RBI in the past 20 games.
Giants 10, Rockies 7
San Francisco AB R H BI BB SO Avg.
Totals 35 10 13 10 6 7
Lee cf 3 3 1 0 2 0.275
Adames ss 4 3 3 3 0 0.203
Ramos lf 4 2 2 0 1 1.295
Flores dh 3 0 1 1 1 1.256
Encarnación 1b 3 0 0 0 0 1.059
c-Smith ph-1b 2 1 1 0 0 0.238
Schmitt 3b 4 1 2 2 1 2.224
Yastrzemski rf 5 0 2 3 0 1.239
Fitzgerald 2b 4 0 1 1 0 0.248
Knizner c 2 0 0 0 0 0.000
b-Johnson ph 0 0 0 0 1 0.188
Porter c 1 0 0 0 0 1.000
Colorado AB R H BI BB SO Avg.
Totals 38 7 13 6 3 6
J.Beck lf 4 1 2 0 1 0.262
Farmer dh 3 0 0 0 0 2.224
a-Hilliard ph-dh 2 0 0 0 0 0.318
Goodman c 5 2 3 2 0 1.289
Estrada 2b 5 1 1 1 0 0.220
Doyle cf 4 1 2 0 1 2.208
Arcia 3b-1b 4 0 1 1 1 0.192
Hiura 1b 3 0 1 1 0 0.188
McMahon 3b 1 0 1 0 0 0.219
Ritter ss 4 1 1 0 0 1.250
Freeman rf 3 1 1 1 0 0.303
San Francisco 201 000 043_10 13 1
Colorado 004 011 001_7 13 1
a-grounded out for Farmer in the 6th. b-walked for Knizner in the 7th. c-singled for Encarnación in the 8th.
E_Encarnación (1), Arcia (3). LOB_San Francisco 7, Colorado 8. 2B_Ramos (13), Yastrzemski (11), Adames (11), Goodman 2 (16). 3B_Lee (4), Ritter (2). HR_Adames (7), off Freeland; Goodman (11), off Doval. RBIs_Adames 3 (31), Schmitt 2 (6), Yastrzemski 3 (24), Fitzgerald (8), Flores (51), Goodman 2 (39), Estrada (5), Hiura (1), Arcia (2), Freeman (7). SB_Doyle (7). CS_Fitzgerald (4). SF_Adames, Flores, Freeman. S_Fitzgerald.
Runners left in scoring position_San Francisco 2 (Fitzgerald, Encarnación); Colorado 5 (Arcia, Estrada, Ritter, Freeman, Goodman). RISP_San Francisco 4 for 10; Colorado 3 for 11.
Runners moved up_Ritter. LIDP_Lee. GIDP_Encarnación, Hilliard.
DP_San Francisco 1 (Fitzgerald, Adames, Smith); Colorado 3 (Estrada, Ritter, Hiura; Arcia; Goodman, Estrada, Goodman).
San Francisco IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA
Ray 4 6 4 2 2 5 93 2.55
T.Beck, W, 1-0 3 3 2 2 0 1 34 2.70
Rogers, H, 15 1 1 0 0 0 0 20 1.44
Doval 1 3 1 1 1 0 26 1.69
Colorado IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA
Freeland 6 6 3 3 2 5 90 5.13
Mejia, H, 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 10 4.08
Kinley, L, 0-3, BS, 2-5 1-3 4 4 4 1 1 27 7.85
Agnos 1 1 3 3 2 1 22 5.48
Rolison 2-3 2 0 0 0 0 11 4.85
Inherited runners-scored_Agnos 2-1, Rolison 2-2. WP_Ray.
Umpires_Home, Ramon De Jesus; First, Edwin Jimenez; Second, Paul Clemons; Third, Adrian Johnson.
T_3:05. A_23,532 (50,144).
Adames turned in another good evening, thumping his second homer in as many nights and another sacrifice fly, too, showing that he is, perhaps, shaking the doldrums that soured his first two-plus months. It took a great play by third baseman Orlando Arcia to retire him in the fifth, he had that single to kickstart the game-deciding eighth inning and he doubled in the ninth and scored on Schmitt's single.
Yastrzemski added an RBI single that inning; he's driven in seven runs in the past three games and lifetime, he's got 37 RBIs in 42 games at Coors Field.
The Giants' 20 comeback wins are third most in baseball behind the Dodgers' 23 and Blue Jays' 21.
Ray, who's made a strong case for All-Star Game consideration, worked just four innings Wednesday. Things unraveled in the third, when Tyler Freeman, the No. 9 hitter, led off with a single and Jordan Beck followed suit. With one out, Hunter Goodman doubled in Freeman, then former Giants infielder Thairo Estrada hit a grounder to second that Fitzgerald scooped up and tossed to first, where Encarnacion flat missed it, failing to stretch toward the ball, which glanced off the end of his glove as two runs scored.
After a walk and a flyout, Keston Hiura lined a single to left to send in another run, and the Rockies added single runs in the fifth and sixth off Tristan Beck. Working in a non-save situation in the ninth, Camilo Doval gave up Goodman's 11th homer of the season.
There was a bizarre moment in the seventh when, with Daniel Johnson at first after a pinch-hit walk, Jung Hoo Lee lined out softly to Juan Mejia. Mejia dropped the ball, picked it up and fired to first, and Johnson was declared out — but replays showed he was safe. The Giants, however, did not signal for a replay review in time.
Schmitt, playing third while Gold Glove third baseman Matt Chapman is on the IL, turned in a sensational play in the fifth, ranging into foul ground for a sharp bouncer by Hiura and making a long throw off-balance to first to end the inning.
Colorado is 12-55, tied for the worst-ever start in major-league history with the 1932 Red Sox and the Giants typically handle the Rockies with ease, with a 53-17 record against them over the past five seasons.
Hayden Birdsong (3-1) will start Thursday's finale against Colorado's Antonio Senzatela, who has a 1-10 record and 6.68 ERA.