Twenty minutes before first pitch and moments after Todd Helton’s Hall of Fame speech played on the Jumbotron, San Francisco manager Bob Melvin became enraged. Helton seemed to strike the right tone, blending his love for family and Rockies fans with his dry wit.
Did Melvin not appreciate the anecdote about Helton’s in-game shaving and superstitions? Nope, he was simply fed up with the umpiring over the previous two days. After a heated discussion with crew chief Chris Conroy, Melvin was tossed.
“I talk too much,” Melvin admitted.
He was sent to the clubhouse. And leadoff hitter Jorge Soler promptly sent the game’s third pitch over the center field fence. It measured 478 feet, the longest homer in the majors this season, the distance verified by the vapor trail.
And so that is how the Rockies’ series finale began. It ended with Colorado falling 3-2, failing to sweep the Giants for the first time since 2018.
“We had a chance late,” second baseman Brendan Rodgers said. “You can look at it a bunch of ways but they made some good plays to finish.”
The Rockies talk about being under construction more than the CDOT. This season is about identifying a core group of players with more power — Ezequiel Tovar, Ryan McMahon, Brenton Doyle, Michael Toglia, maybe Nolan Jones — and blending it with improved pitching sometime over the next few years.
This series showed the Rockies can be competitive when their starters are formidable. In three games, Cal Quantrill, Kyle Freeland and Sunday’s pitcher Ryan Feltner posted an 3.32 ERA. The trio acted as a lifeboat for a relief corps that has been taking on water for months. Because of injuries and ineffectiveness, manager Bud Black has watched the bullpen door open and chaos ensue. Sunday, the bullpen did not play a role in the decision.
Feltner found rhythm around a few critical mistakes. Soler obliterated a 94 mph fastball, Tyler Fitzgerald followed with a solo blast in the third and Matt Chapman raced home in the fourth on a passed ball slider through catcher Jacob Stallings. Feltner tied his longest outing of the season, yielding three runs in seven innings on six hits, but fell to 1-10 on the season and 0-3 at home.
“It’s not the way I wanted to start the game. But I was able to settle in and (Stallings) did a great job helping me,” Feltner said. “Later in the game, I was able to get ahead in the count and that frees things up a lot.”
The 3-0 cushion was hardly comfortable for a Giants team that has fizzled in the second half the past two seasons. They entered Sunday with a 16.5% chance of reaching the playoffs, armed with an easy schedule, but faltering around an inconsistent offense and a rotation counting on second half contributions from Blake Snell and Robbie Ray.
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With many in the crowd of 30,507 on an overcast Sunday wearing Helton jerseys or shirts, Rodgers put a charge in a ball worthy of All-Star. He slammed a 376-foot home run over the left-field fence, scoring McMahon, shaving the deficit to 3-2. Rodgers was sitting slider with Giants starter Hayden Birdsong throwing 70% breaking balls.
“His slider had a mind of its own. That’s what I hit out,” Rodgers said. “When he needed a strike, you kind of had an idea of what he was comfortable throwing.”
It represented the only damage against Birdsong. He finished with a career-high 12 strikeouts in his fifth major league start, taking advantage of a high-release point and late break.
“Anyone says you can’t throw a curveball at Coors Field, watch this kid,” said Rockies manager Bud Black.
There was a moment of trepidation before Rodgers’ swing in the fourth as McMahon appeared to hurt his hand/thumb diving back to first on a pickoff play. After a brief visit from the trainer he stayed in the game, his presence needed on a day when Tovar was out of the lineup with an illness and catcher Elias Diaz (calf) remained an injured list candidate.
Typical of their recent stretch, the Rockies cobbled together quality at-bats late. With one out in the seventh, Jake Cave smoked a ball under Heliot Ramos’ glove for a double, but the rally fizzled when Sam Hilliard lined out.
Giants closer Camilo Doval threw water on a ninth-inning burst, jamming Stallings on a groundout to Chapman. The day was not a total loss as the players watched Helton’s Hall of Fame induction in the clubhouse, marveling at the legend.
“It was really special to see,” said Freeland. “What a great moment.”
Rockies injury updates: Tovar began experiencing flu symptoms on Saturday night, leaving him out of the lineup. He had homered in three straight games for the first time in his career before giving way to Aaron Schunk on Sunday. Diaz remains day-to-day with a calf injury — it’s not the calf that landed him on the IL previously — and Black said they can exercise patience a little longer before making a decision.
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