The San Francisco Giants look to continue their recent dominance over the Colorado Rockies when the teams open a three-game series Tuesday night in the Bay Area.
San Francisco has won 20 of 25 meetings since the start of the 2021 season. The Giants had posted 12 straight wins before the Rockies won the most recent meeting, 5-3, on May 18 at Denver.
San Francisco won the first five meetings this season and has outscored Colorado 44-26 overall. The Giants swept a three-game set at home from May 9-11 when they scored 24 runs and allowed eight.
Currently, San Francisco needs to figure out how to beat other teams. The Giants have lost 10 of their last 17 games and sit third in the NL West, 5 1/2 games behind the division-leading Los Angeles Dodgers.
San Francisco is coming off a four-game road split against the Miami Marlins that concluded with Sunday’s 5-1 win.
Infielder Donovan Walton hit the first grand slam of his career, at any level, in his 11th game with the Giants since being acquired from the Seattle Mariners last month.
“The youth league, never had a Grand Slam. I thought I’d never get one,” Walton told reporters. “I do everything I can to help the team win. I put a very good swing on it. Yeah, it felt amazing.”
Walton, batting .225, has nine hits since joining the Giants and eight have been for extra-base hits. He has seven doubles to go with Sunday’s blast.
“He’s been a good addition,” San Francisco manager Gabe Kapler said. “And what we expected from him is what he has brought to the table on a daily basis with his at-bats.”
The Rockies are sizzling with 20 losses in their last 27 contests. Last-place Colorado just got swept at home in a four-game series by the Atlanta Braves to fall 12 games behind the Dodgers.
Colorado has a big-hitting infielder in Brendan Rodgers, who fell a triple short of the cycle in Sunday’s 8-7 loss to the Braves. Rodgers batted .345 (10-for-29) with four home runs and seven RBIs in the just-concluded seven-game homestand.
Rodgers has increased his season average to .266. It may not sound impressive, but it represents a big change for a player who was hitting .078 (4-for-51) at the end of April.
“When I use the right side of the field, that opens up the defense even more for me,” Rodgers told reporters. “So it frees me up to be able to activate pitches. That six hole opens up now, because the shortstop is playing straight and the second baseman is on the other side.”
Connor Joe walked twice in Sunday’s loss to extend his on-base streak to 32 straight games, the longest active streak in the majors. Joe’s streak is the longest for a Colorado player since Rockies standout DJ LeMahieu had a 38-game streak in 2016.
Giants left-hander Carlos Rodon (4-4, 3.44 ERA) will try to keep Joe off the bases in Game 1.
Rodon, 29, is 0-3 with a 6.30 ERA in four starts since beating Colorado on May 9. He struck out a season-high 12 and allowed two runs on six hits in six innings against the Rockies.
Overall, Rodon is 1-1 with a 6.35 ERA in two career starts against Colorado. He lost to the Rockies as a member of the Chicago White Sox on July 9, 2017 when he allowed six runs on five hits in 5 1/3 innings.
Rodón has struggled with CJ Cron (5-for-12, one home run) and José Iglesias (5-for-14) while dominating Randal Grichuk (1-for-14, nine strikeouts).
Colorado responds with right-hander Germán Márquez (1-5, 6.71), who has allowed 71 hits (including 11 home runs) in just 55 innings.
Marquez, 27, has allowed 17 runs (15 earned) and 24 hits in 17 innings in his last three starts, going 0-2 with a 7.94 ERA.
He has traditionally been mistreated by the Giants. Marquez is 4-8 with a 7.19 ERA in 14 career starts against San Francisco.
Marquez has issues with Brandon Crawford (11-for-32, one home run) and has held Joc Pederson to a .160 average despite hitting two home runs.
–Field level media
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