San Francisco Giants' Luis Matos (29) fails to catch a two-run home run hit by Colorado Rockies' Ryan McMahon (24) in the first inning of their MLB game at Oracle Park in San Francisco, Calif., on Friday, July 7, 2023. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group)
SAN FRANCISCO — The twin pairing of Tyler and Taylor Rogers in the Giants bullpen has been more than a feel-good story. They have been so effective for the past two months that when it has come to bridging the gap to Camilo Doval in late-inning, high-leverage situations, they have begun to enter one after the other as Gabe Kapler’s options 1a and 1b.
Such was the case Friday night against the Rockies, with the score tied at 2 entering the seventh inning.
The twins who had been so good of late imploded in their own ways, sending the Giants to a 5-2 loss to the last-place Rockies, who hadn’t won a road game since June 13 and hadn’t beaten the Giants since last season. The Rockies’ win snapped a 10-game road losing streak and an 11-game losing streak to San Francisco.
Taylor Rogers put the runners on, and Tyler Rogers served up the home run that brought them all home in a three-run seventh inning.
Taylor issued a pair of walks — his first outing with multiple free passes since throwing his glove in the trash April 12 — and practically by the time Tyler’s warm-up music (“Ain’t No Rest for the Wicked” by Cage the Elephant) was over, they were rounding the bases and the Giants were in a three-run hole.
Ezequiel Tovar swung at the first pitch he saw from Rogers and walloped it half a dozen rows deep into the left-center field bleachers. It was only the third home run allowed by Rogers this season, his first since April 29, snapping a streak of 29⅓ innings spanning his past 27 outings.
The Giants lost for the seventh time in their past nine games, falling to 5-9 since the end of their 10-game win streak.
Their offensive struggles continued all the same. Facing a pitching staff that had allowed 162 runs since June 13, an average of more than eight per game, the only runs they were able to muster came on a two-run home run from Brandon Crawford in the sixth inning.
Rockies pitching over their recent stretch of play has been historically bad, even for a franchise that calls Coors Field home. Only the A’s have allowed more runs over a 20-game stretch this season, and there have been only three worse stretches in Colorado’s franchise history.
The Giants became the first team since June 3 that was unable to muster at least three runs in a game against Colorado’s pitchers.
Rockies starter Austin Gomber faced one more than the minimum through five innings, but history began to catch up with him. The Giants have outscored every team in the majors from the fifth inning on since June 1, and Gomber has allowed more home runs than any pitcher in the majors.
After a leadoff single by Casey Schmitt — only his second hit in his past 27 at-bats — Crawford worked a 3-2 count. Gomber tried to sneak a fastball past him at the letters, but the 36-year-old shortstop turned on it and sent the ball to the top of the arcade in right field, tying the score at 2.
Making his third appearance back from the injured list, Ross Stripling’s homer troubles continued to bite him, too.
After allowing a one-out single in the first inning to Kris Bryant, playing his first game at Oracle Park since leaving in free agency after the 2021 season, Stripling couldn’t put away the batter behind him, Ryan McMahon. He fouled off four pitches and took two outside the strike zone before Stripling left a sinker over the middle of the plate on the 10th pitch of the at-bat. McMahon crushed it over the left-center wall, the 11th homer Stripling has allowed in 40 innings this season.
Originally published at Evan Webeck