Since 1995, it’s often been said that no lead is safe at Coors Field. That’s especially true when the 2014 Rockies pitchers are, well, pitching.
Case in point: the San Francisco Giants’ 12-7 victory Tuesday night.
Colorado led 7-1 after after five innings, and at that point, starter Jordan Lyles was throwing a terrific game.
Two innings later, the Giants led 10-7, feasting off the pitching of Lyles and relievers Matt Belisle and Nick Masset.
“It’s a bad loss,” manager Walt Weiss said. “Ugly game. They were two different games tonight.”
Lyles gave up three runs in the sixth on a leadoff solo homer by Buster Posey and a two-run shot by Andrew Susac.
“The finish line doesn’t look too good, but I felt (catcher) Jackson (Williams) and I did a pretty good job and were pretty efficient,” said Lyles, who gave up a season-high eight hits and saw his ERA jump to 4.35.
Of the home runs, Lyles said: “In the sixth when I gave up a homer to Posey, I fell behind, but I’m not going to walk him there with a six-run lead. I left it down the middle and he put it in the seats. And I just didn’t make a good pitch to Susac. I had a chance to put away … I just left one over the plate and he hit it a long way.”
The seventh inning brought a deluge of boos from Rockies fans in the announced crowd of 25,256. Pure joy percolated from the many Giants fans on hand. By the time the inning was over, the Giants had scored six runs on five extra-base hits, and Rockies fans were heading for the exits. Even the rooftop deck was being abandoned.
PHOTOS: Colorado Rockies vs. San Francisco Giants, Sept. 2, 2014
Belisle, who looks nothing like the warhorse from seasons past, gave up four run on four hits in one-third inning, including a two-run double to Posey and run-scoring doubles to Gregor Blanco and Susac, as well as an RBI single to Hunter Pence.
“I think it’s just that the ball was catching a lot of the plate,” Weiss said after Belisle was charged with the loss and fell to 4-7 with a 5.37 ERA.
The Giants weren’t finished. Masset replaced Belisle and teed up a run-scoring triple by Brandon Crawford. The five extra-base hits by San Francisco were its most in an inning since 2011.
The game stayed ugly when center fielder Drew Stubbs dropped Pence’s easy pop fly in the eighth, allowing Posey to score. He had reached on a double off Tommy Kahnle. Weiss said he thought the ball “knuckled” on Stubbs, but the outfielder admitted he didn’t play the ball right.
“I just dropped it,” he said.
San Francisco came to LoDo as one of baseball’s hottest teams, nipping at the Dodgers’ heels in the National League West and leading the NL wild-card race. But early Tuesday evening, the Rockies looked like a bunch of spoiled sports. They blasted starter Yusmeiro Petit, scoring six runs on seven hits in four innings.
The big punches came fast and furious. Corey Dickerson delivered a two-run double in the first. Josh Rutledge, helmet flying off his head a la Pete Rose, hit a two-run triple in the third. He jogged home shortly thereafter on DJ LeMahieu’s two-run homer to left.
The Rockies fell to 55-84, and are on pace for a 64-98 record, which would match their 2012 season as the worst in franchise history.
The Giants (76-63), remain two games behind the Dodgers in the N.L. West after the Dodgers beat the Nationals 4-1 behind ace Clayton Kershaw.
