Giants-Rockies Series Preview

The San Francisco Giants head to the Mile High City to face a team that’s Miles Low in the standings.

Last week, the Colorado Rockies shocked the baseball world by sweeping the Miami Marlins in three games. It was the first time all season that the Rockies had won consecutive games against any single opponent, much less three in a row, but the team held the Marlins to just eight runs for the the series and Kyle Freeland won his first game of the season. Then, they got swept by the New York Mets, who scored 25 runs in their three-game sweep.

The San Francisco Giants visit the 12-50 Rockies for a quick three-game series Tuesday-Thursday, riding a five-game winning streak based solely on one-run victories. They went 5-2 on the home stand, where all the games were decided by a single run. The Giants’ last 14 games have all been decided by two or fewer runs, a testament to their excellent pitching and an indictment of an often cold offense.

The team did something about their disappointing hitting, trading LaMonte Wade, Jr., sending Christian Koss to Sacramento, and ditching backup catcher Sam Huff in favor of Andrew Knizner. The new additions are first baseman Dominic Smith and outfielder Daniel Johnson, with Jerar Encarnacion in as of last Monday in place of Luis Matos. The team has scored 21 runs in five games since the moves — not great, but better than the 20 runs they’d scored in their 11 games before that.

Now they’ll have to keep the hitting going without their leading home run hitter after Matt Chapman went on the injury list after hurting his hand diving back to first Saturday. Koss is back up to take his roster spot,

How is the Rockies offense? Well, they used former Giant Thairo Estrada as their cleanup hitter Sunday. Their best hitters have been catcher Hunter Goodman, slashing .280/.327.483 this season, which is the best OBP among all Rockies with at least 100 plate appearances. The second-year catcher leads the Rockies in batting average, home runs, doubles, and RBIs. Right fielder Tyler Freeman is having a big June so far, slashing .478/.520/.826 in seven games.

Third baseman Ryan McMahon is an excellent defender who leads the Rockies with 35 walks, but he’s hitting only .213. and slugging .362. Gold Glove shortstop Ezequiel Tovar remains out with an oblique strain. Another Gold Glover, center fielder Brenton Doyle, is slashing a woeful .196/.252 /.314 this season,. 24-year-old Jordan Beck hits well at home and against lefties, and he’ll get to see two of them in this series in Kyle Harrison and Robbie Ray. Backup infielder Orlando Arcia might get a shot against Ray, since he has five walks and a double in eight plate appearance against the lefty.

For the Giants, Tyler Fitzgerald has two home runs in five at-bats against Wednesday’s starter, Kyle Freeland. Heliot Ramos, Wilmer Flores, and Mike Yastrzemski have all homered off Freeland, with Yaz slashing 429/.478/.762 against him. Note: The Rockies are 4-37 when they give up a home run. They still lose ¹⁄₃ of their games when they don’t give up a homer, but still, it might just take a few Coors Field bombs to swing these games.

Yaz is 5-for-12 against Thursday’s starter, Antonio Senzatela, while Willy Adames has a home run off the righty, who is 1-10 this season. No one on the team has faced left-hander Carson Palmquist, who makes his fifth career start Tuesday.

The Rockies have been down so bad this year that even on the road, anything short of a sweep would be considered a disappointment for the Giants. While it’s not ideal that the team has to see two lefty starters, especially with Chapman out, the team’s strong starting pitching and its plethora of middle relievers who can pitch long stints (Sean Hjelle, Spencer Bivens, Tristan Beck) puts them in a good position to survive Coors. Getting six innings from their starters Saturday and Sunday and then getting a day off Monday also goes a long way.

Are the Giants favored in every game? Coors they are.

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Series Overview

San Francisco Giants

38 – 28, 2nd in NL West

Streak: W5, 7-3 last 10 games, 16-17 Away

271 RS – 226 RA

Colorado Rockies

12 – 53, 3rd in NL West

Streak: L3, 3-7 last 10 games, 6-25 Home

204 RS – 402 RA

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Schedule & Projected starters:

Tuesday, June 10th, 5:40 PM PT

Kyle Harrison, LHP Carson Palmquist, LHP

1 – 1 (7 G, 3 GS), 4.34 ERA 0 – 4 (4 GS), 8.50 ERA

Wednesday, June 11th 5:40 PM PT

Robbie Ray, LHP Kyle Freeland, LHP

8 – 1 (13 GS), 2.44 ERA 1 – 8 (13 GS), 5.19 ERA

Thursday, June 12th, 12:10 PM PT

Hayden Birdsong, RHP Antonio Senzatela, RHP

3 – 1 (15 G, 4 GS), 2.55 ERA 1 – 10 (12 GS), 6.68 ERA