Giants feel better about themselves after sweep of Rockies

The offense and pitching set records in a mood-lifting series sweep over Colorado

It took them until the end of July, but they got one: a sweep, a real one, a juicy four-gamer against…well, the Colorado Rockies. The Rockies are the Rockies, and after this winning weekend, the San Francisco Giants might not be the Rockies. They’re the Giants, which is well…better, I think, or just different.

The four game sweep finished off the head-to-head series against Colorado at a commanding 10-3 record in favor of San Francisco. Their pitchers struck out 53 batters over the four-game set, breaking a franchise record at 51 set against these Rockies back in 2019. They outscored their opponents 25-9 with 44 hits including 20 extra base hits, 8 home runs, and 5 triples. A three bagger quantity that a Giants team hadn’t put up over a four game stretch since 1956.

Four extra base hits in the first two innings put Colorado and starter Austin Gomber in an early hole they couldn’t quite climb out of.

Casey Schmitt started the day off with a solo shot in the 1st. Michael Conforto, who had yet to record a knock in this knock-happy series, lined a two-out double in the 2nd, followed by a stand-up triple by Derek Hill and a loud double from Jorge Soler.

It was a 3-for-5 day for the Giants’ lead-off man with an RBI and a run scored. In the series, he went 9-for-15 with a 1.667 OPS. Over his last 15 games, Soler is batting .327 (18-for-55) with a .445 OBP and a .993 OPS.

The Giants’ initial runs held for a spell. When the lead started to dwindle to one in the 6th, Matt Chapman bought some breathing room with a two-out, bases loaded single. An opportunity they never would’ve been if not for Hill knocking the ball out of Ryan McMahon’s glove as he dove into third base. The error gifted San Francisco another pitch and one pitch was all Chapman needed to rip a single to left.

But Colorado still lingered. Michael Toglia launched a solo homer in the 7th. In the 8th, a double from Ezequiel Tovar and an infield single helped load the bases against Spencer Bivens. The right-hander struck out Charlie Blackmon with a runner in scoring position and got Brendan Rodgers to ground out to third skirt trouble—though it wouldn’t be for long.

Trouble doubled in the 9th as it has done all season-long for Camilo Doval. Two pitches into his outing, Toglia singled to lead off the frame, and Jake Cave battled for another, putting runners on the corners and nobody out with the lead run at the plate.

The 9th inning, the game, the series, whatever shreds of the season remained appeared ready to scatter in the slightest of winds. But Doval held on. With his next pitch, he traded an out for a run, before striking out Sam Hilliard and getting Tovar to ground out to short to strand the tying run in scoring position.

Not as dominant a performance as 15 strikeouts in 6 innings pitched, but San Francisco’s six pitchers teamed up for an impressive 11 K’s over 9 frames in Sunday’s win.

Erik Miller as the opener K’ed two of three he faced. Randy Rodriguez struck out three, allowing 1 run on 2 hits through the 4th. Taylor Rogers struck out the side in the 5th, before Jordan Hicks (giving up 2 runs on 3 hits over 2 IP), Bivens and Doval all picked up 1 strikeout a piece.

Though a familiar role throughout his career, it was Hicks’s first time pitching out of the bullpen as a Giant. The move wasn’t a relegation, but a creative maneuver to ease his workload, aid a stretched bullpen, as well as free the front office to shop some pitching pieces.

Even with plenty of experience, dropping back into the reliever mentality doesn’t appear to be comparable to flipping a switch. Prep, pre-game routine, warm-up—it’s all a little different. It appeared like Hicks took some time to shake off his starter mindset and make some adjustments on the mound—but when you’re pitching in the late innings with a slim lead, there really isn’t the time to tinker. Hicks eventually did feel his way up to 96 with his fastball though it’s clear closer-mode clearly hadn’t fully engaged.

The pitching line he posted wasn’t great, nor was it worrying. The run Colorado pieced together in the 6th was a matter of sequencing. Shuffle up the order of a bloop single, productive groundout and seeing-eye single, and no run scores. And an inning later, Toglia used the power of a 95 MPH fastball at the top of the zone to back spin it over the opposite field wall. A good pitch and a better swing—Colorado can’t claim many of those this weekend.