Rockies sunk by one big inning, fall to the Giants 7-1

The Colorado Rockies had a nice little win streak going entering this afternoon’s game. That momentum came to a screeching halt a few innings into the game as Logan Webb and the San Francisco Giants played spoiler.

The Rockies looked like they might solve Webb, getting out to an early lead and positioning themselves to hang in a close game. A long, painful fourth inning for Michael Lorenzen made the game much less close, and the Rockies failed to string together any additional offense after their lone run in the third.

An early but fleeting advantage

The first inning gave a glimpse at why Webb has been able to go deep into games this season. He got Jake McCarthy to fly out in three pitches, struck Cole Carrigg out in six, and got Mickey Moniak to ground out after five.

Lorenzen worked his first faced batter, Drew Gilbert, into an 0-2 count but then fell behind to walk him. He bounced back, recording the next two outs, before walking Jung Hoo Lee. He peppered in a lot of fastballs early, but especially struggled to land his changeup. Despite the two walks, he recovered and worked out of the jam. Still, this marked his eighth consecutive start throwing at least 20 pitches in the first inning.

Webb and Lorenzen both had strong second innings. Webb allowed a single but added two more strikeouts and faced no real pressure. Lorenzen had a 1-2-3 inning of his own, making quick work of the side.

Three straight hits in the third swung the game. It all started with Ezequiel Tovar’s 500th career hit. Tovar got the Rockies rolling with a bloop single into shallow right.

McCarthy followed that up with a nearly identical shot to the same part of the field. Tovar took advantage of the single and broke for third, a decision that would quickly pay off. Carrigg came up next and nailed a grounder that got through into left field, scoring Tovar and putting the Rockies up 1-0.

Unfortunately, that lead didn’t last long.

The Giants’ first hit of the game was a big one. Gilbert slammed a solo home run over the right field wall to tie the ballgame in the bottom half of the inning. The Rockies were unable to regain the lead in the top of the fourth inning

It all falls apart in the fourth

Runs are hard to come by in Oracle Park and against Logan Webb. The Rockies got an early lead and kept the Giants within arm’s reach for a third of the game. Unfortunately, one bad inning was all it took. The wheels came off in the fourth inning, dropping the Rockies to a six-run deficit.

Back-to-back singles from Lee and Oslevis Basabe started things off. Lorenzen walked Drew Cavanaugh on five pitches to load the bases, putting the Rockies in a tough spot with no outs. Turner Hill, making his MLB debut, got his first career RBI with a sacrifice fly to start the damage.

Lorenzen continued to struggle with control, hitting Buddy Kennedy with a pitch to re-load the bases. There was a brief glimmer of hope that the Rockies could hold things at 2-1. Christian Koss grounded into a force out resulting in Basabe being thrown out at home for the second out. But the inning just wouldn’t end.

The story of Lorenzen’s outing today was an inability to finish, whether that was an at-bat or an inning. Despite getting ahead in the count against most batters, he couldn’t always shut them down. Despite persevering in the fourth and getting the second out, he couldn’t quite wrap things up. A two out single scored two and ended his day with the Rockies falling behind 4-1 and with more of Lorenzen’s baserunners still on.

Parker Mushinski entered and struggled. A series consisting of a single, a wild pitch, and another single put the Giants ahead 7-1. When it was all said and done, the Gigantes brought 11 batters up to the plate and scored six times.

Lorenzen’s day finished after just 3.2 innings pitched with six earned runs on four hits, jumping his ERA up to 7.08. Despite throwing 49 strikes out of his 82 pitches, he didn’t have the command when it mattered and finished with three walks to one strikeout.

After the game, Warren Schaeffer commented on Lorenzen’s struggles with finishing the job: “A lot of 0-2 counts. He just had a tough time putting guys away. I just think the story of the day was he got ahead and just couldn’t finish em. Lots of foul balls and (the Giants) kept the at-bats alive. They battled today.”

Lorenzen said the same, pointing to foul balls and balls in play: “The past few games I’ve just had trouble putting guys away. I get in the good counts. I’m working deep counts and then a ball is in play. Then you start falling behind.”

Colorado’s offense caught in a Webb

The gameplan coming into today was clear. Webb has managed a number of low scoring starts into deep innings this season. If the Rockies were to have any sort of a chance, they needed runs on the board early and to consistently convert baserunners into runs. It felt like they might pull it off early, but their production against Webb fizzled out extremely quickly.

After allowing the Rockies lone run in the third inning, Webb flipped a switch and retired the next 11 straight batters with ease before being replaced in the top of the seventh. It was a nearly flawless, vintage Logan Webb performance.

Four of his six innings pitched were quick 1-2-3 innings as the Rockies struggled to solve his pitch selection. Webb used a small but (obviously) effective mix of pitches: a four-seam fastball (30%), changeup (26%), cutter (24%), sweeper (14%), and sinker (6%). Schaeffer applauded Webb’s ability to hit all areas of the strike zone with his pitches, noting that “we just had no answer for him today.”

He logged seven strikeouts through the game, with four of those coming on his four-seamer. He managed a 50% whiff rate on the fastball, using it efficiently throughout. His cutter had the Rockies fooled as well. He got opposing batters to swing and miss on 12 pitches (compared to just five from Lorenzen).

His day ended with a line that the Rockies hoped to avoid: a quality start with six innings pitched, the one run on four hits, and those seven strikeouts without a walk to go along with them.

A numbers game

There were a few big milestone numbers hit today on both sides.

• As mentioned earlier, Tovar notched his 500th career hit which then turned into his 250th career run.
• Connor Norby, acquired in the Victor Vodnik trade, got his first hit as a Rockie.
• For the Giants, Hill got his first MLB RBI but will have to wait on his first hit.
• Among his K’s, Webb logged career strikeout 1,100.

The number that the Rockies didn’t hit? Win 50 on the season. They’ll try again to hit that milestone in the series finale tomorrow.

Outside of milestones, the number that defined the day for Colorado was 0, as several key bats in the lineup ended the day with O-fers. Zac Veen, Brett Sullivan, and Moniak were 0-for-3 (before Adael Amador pinch hit and went 0-for-1) and TJ Rumfield went 0-for-4.

Another defining number was 11: The number of Rockies strikeouts today. Every single Rockie with an at-bat today logged at least one strikeout (Veen had two). Not ideal.

Up Next

We’ll see you here tomorrow at the same Rockies time on the same Rockies channel. Colorado and San Francisco meet for the last time this season with another 2:05 p.m. MDT first pitch on Sunday.

For this one, two pitchers still looking for their first win of the season duke it out.

Gabriel Hughes gets the start for the Rockies, currently sitting at 0-4 through six starts, with a 5.61 ERA, a 1.277 WHIP, and 31 strikeouts.

The Giants will send out right-hander Blade Tidwell who is 0-0 in just two starts and 10 total games. He carries a 2.78 ERA, a 1.103 WHIP, and has thrown 19 strikeouts.

With the season series tied at six wins apiece, tomorrow will also decide which team wins the head-to-head battle for 2026.

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