Rockies break out for season-high seven-run inning, rout Giants in series finale, 9-1

DENVER — With a fourth-inning touchdown, the Rockies sidestepped the sad narrative of their spring on Thursday afternoon at Coors Field.

Colorado beat the Giants, 9-1, behind that season-high seven-run frame, snapping a four-game losing streak and claiming the series finale against San Francisco in the process.

“We finally took advantage of some mistakes,” Rockies manager Bud Black said. “We barreled balls to a man in that inning.”

After Keaton Winn cruised through the first three innings, the Rockies made the Giants right-hander look like a high school hurler in the fourth while erasing a 1-0 San Francisco lead.

The first six batters of that frame all registered a hit, starting with Ezequiel Tovar’s lead-off triple. Ryan McMahon (single), Elias Diaz (double), Sean Bouchard (double), Brendan Rodgers (single) and Brenton Doyle (three-run homer) all followed, tagging Winn’s pitches to all areas of the field while racking up a 6-1 lead.

“(Winn’s) fastball was up, his splitter was up, his slider was up — everything was up out over the plate, and we didn’t miss it,” Black said.

Winn finally got a couple outs after that before Charlie Blackmon tripled, extending the inning and forcing Winn’s exit that was a handful of batters overdue.

With the Rockies batted around, Randy Rodríguez came on to face Tovar, who promptly laced a first-pitch fastball to left for a double that scored Blackmon.

That extra point extended the home team advantage to 7-1, and also made Tovar just the second player in franchise history to double and triple in the same inning. Tovar joined Garrett Hampson in that feat, as Hampson did it on Aug. 11, 2020, in the eighth inning of a win over Arizona in Denver.

As the Colorado offense broke out — the Rockies’ previous high for runs in an inning in 2024 came on April 25 against San Diego when they scored six in the eighth in a comeback win — Cal Quantrill turned in his fifth quality start in his last six outings.

...continued

swipe to next page