What we learned when Winn crushed it again in the Giants’ loss to the Rockies originally appeared in NBC Sports Bay Area
The Giants used a six-run second inning on Wednesday to beat the Colorado Rockies, all for the Rockies to come back the next day and use a seven-run fourth inning to beat the Giants 9-1 on Thursday at Coors Field.
San Francisco’s loss ended its 3-7 10-game road trip.
Keaton Winn, for the second time in a row, was hit hard and eliminated early. The Rockies jumped on Winn to wake up their Bats in the fourth inning. Winn lasted 3 2/3 innings, giving up seven earned runs on eight hits and striking out just one batter.
One game after the Giants (17-22) had five players enjoying a multi-hit day, including two who had a three-hit game, only two produced a multi-hit game. Five Giants starters didn’t hit.
Here are three takeaways from the Giants’ failure to sweep the Rockies (9-28).
Ugly fourth inning
Six hits, six walks, six runs and no strikeouts. That’s what the first 10 pitches of the fourth inning looked like for Winn.
Only four Rockies reached base in the bottom of the first inning before Winn’s back-to-back 1-2-3 innings. The room was different. Very, very different.
On the first three pitches of the bottom half of the quarter, the Rockies had already tied the game at 1-1 with a leadoff triple and an RBI single. That was followed by two consecutive RBI doubles, a home run single and a three-run hit thrown 430 feet by Brenton Doyle to put the Rockies ahead 6-1 in the blink of an eye.
Winn faced three more batters in the inning, first forcing a pop out and a flyout. Charlie Blackmon forced Giants manager Bob Melvin to turn to the bullpen after a 370-foot triple to center field. In total, the Rockies sent out 11 batters in the fourth inning, collecting eight hits and six that went for extra bases. Winn in his last two starts has now lasted 4 ⅓ innings, allowing 12 hits and 12 earned runs.
Flowers on the Hot Corner
Even in a season where Matt Chapman has made some early mistakes, it’s always a defensive concern when he’s not at third base. Thursday marked just the second time Chapman has rested, giving Wilmer Flores his second try at the hot corner. He passed the first test and did it again on the second chance.
Between the end of the second inning and the entire third inning, Flores was a magnet at the hot corner.
That’s not an exaggeration either. Flores recorded four straight strikeouts for the Giants. He did this by placing grounders to his left, to his backhand and even got a line drive as well. One of the most hit balls of the day was a groundout from Elehuris Montero to Flores to start the bottom of the third, an outing that had an exit velocity of 105.8 mph.
Flores’ struggles at the plate continued, going 0-for-4, but he was a nice prospect down the third base line.
Questionable decisions
The fourth inning was clearly a hole the Giants couldn’t climb out of. They also didn’t do themselves any favors in a few different cases.
Estrada had the Giants’ only hit in the first inning, but also ran for the third out at third base. The Giants second baseman slid around third base trying to steal on a 2-2 count and ball three went to Mike Yastrzemski. He tried to turn back time, but was eliminated by third baseman Ryan McMahon.
Then in the top of the fourth, an inning that began with a Michael Conforto solo shot, Blake Sabol turned to throw a ball below the strike zone and put him in an 0-2 hole. The Giants at the time had a 1-0 lead, had a runner on first base and two outs. Sabol finally drew an impressive six-pitch walk, but the next batter also drew a head-scratching at-bat.
Now with a runner in scoring position and two outs, Tyler Fitzgerald prepared to hit the first pitch he saw, a high pitch that should have been a ball. Fitzgerald eventually struck out three pitches to end the inning. The Rockies countered with seven runs in the bottom half.
Smart baseball is always needed, even against the Rockies.
