© Isaiah J Downing | June 8, 2023
The Giants won the series opener with an avalanche of attacks; Her eight doubles in the game equaled a San Francisco-era record.
At the heart of the series, San Francisco needed exactly five runs to make a comeback in the late inning and delivered all of them.
Then, in the finals, the Giants combined power and small ball to claim a second straight comeback win.
Thairo Estrada and Michael Conforto hit a home run, and the Giants put up three runs in the ninth inning with a yank off the bench. Brandon Crawford hit the crucial double as a pinch hitter and San Francisco provided two more runs for the closer Camilo Doval, who acted automatically.
Doval made his 16th National League-leading save in the 6-4 win. If a clean play means that a club dominates all three games in a series, it is a dirty play. One way or another, the Giants (32-30) deserved it.
Estrada’s first home run in the first inning – San Francisco’s first of the three-game streak – gave the Giants a 1-0 lead. But the Rockies managed to hold the order in the bottom half, trailing starter Alex Cobb four times. Colorado’s lead held through the ninth inning.
After his most recent start, when Cobb ran his splitter for 7.2 scoreless innings, the veteran said his performance felt better than he had all season — and maybe not in years.
Against the Rockies, Cobb partnered with Blake Sabol, the most inexperienced and defensive catcher the Giants have ever fielded.
On Thursday, Cobb had an 8.59 ERA in 7.1 innings, beating Sabol. That’s a tiny sample, and Cobb’s penchant for calling his own games via PitchCom makes it difficult to decipher just how much influence his fellow battery player has, but that’s a loud number. Cobb’s ERA with Joey Bart and Patrick Bailey is under 2.00 this year.
Sabol, a Rule 5 pick, must remain on the roster year-round for the Giants to keep him in organization. He hits like a big player and the Giants believe in his talent for the long haul, but his catching skills are way behind Bailey and Bart (that’s to be expected for a rookie with minimal high-level experience at the position).
Cobb calmed down after the first inning and even had obvious discomfort. He appeared to pinch his hip on a throw in the fifth inning, but insisted to manager Gabe Kapler and head athletic trainer Dave Groeschner that he could continue.
The right-hander finished the game with seven strikeouts in five innings. All four of his earned runs came in the first inning.
By the time Taylor Rogers replaced Cobb, the Giants had taken Colorado’s lead. JD Davis tripled and Michael Conforto hit his twelfth home run of the season. The former Mets, fourth and fifth in SF’s order, leveled the scores 4-3.
Both Conforto’s and Estrada’s home runs were confident they would have cleared the fence at all 30 stadiums.
Taylor and Tyler Rogers, who played back-to-back games in their hometown, each threw scoreless frames to keep the Giants close. The latter left the bases loaded in the seventh.
Then in the ninth round, the Giants conjured up the same comeback magic as Wednesday night. Blake Sabol and pinch-hitter Mike Yastrzemski each scored a walk against the narrower Pierce Johnson. Then the experienced Brandon Crawford, replacing the ailing Casey Schmitt, shot a 2-0 curve ball down the right center for the game-winning brace.
LaMonte Wade Jr. gave the Giants a 5-4 lead with a sacrifice flight. Joc Pederson added an RBI single on a letter-height fastball to lengthen the rally.
Doval, who conceded two earned runs in his final 16.2 innings after Thursday’s save, continued his reign.
No win comes easy, and although the Rockies are the bottom-ranked team, they had an impressive 15-14 record at home. There are platitudes about the Rocky Mountains that seem to apply every year, regardless of the Rockies’ lineup. One is that the club are playing hard at home and another is that teams’ injury lists seem to be filling up during the Coors Field series.
Brandon Belt’s 2021 season ended at Coors Field. LaMonte Wade Jr.’s knee worsened in Denver last year, causing him to miss five weeks. Muscles seem tighter at altitude. Flukey accidents are common in the park where oxygen canisters are readily available.
It took the Giants two comebacks to make it, but they defeated the Rockies at Coors Field. And just as importantly, the team that ended up in Denver as healthy on the positional side as they have been all year seems to have come through the series unscathed.
