Colorado Rockies Outlast San Francisco Giants In Solo Home Run Derby

Apr 22, 2014; Denver, CO, USA; Colorado Rockies shortstop Troy Tulowitzki (2) celebrates with third baseman Nolan Arenado (28) and starting pitcher Franklin Morales (56) after defeating the San Francisco Giants 2-1 at Coors Field. Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports

Tuesday night’s 2-1 win over the San Francisco Giants was an encouraging one to say the least. Colorado only scored two runs in the victory but the pitching came up clutch in key situations. Franklin Morales lowered his ERA to 3.86 after tonight’s strong performance. The only mistake he would make during the game was one to Hunter Pence who set a pitch over the fence in left. Other than that Morales pitched exceptionally well, throwing seven innings giving up five hits, one run, one earned, two walks while striking out seven.

The Rockies offense wasn’t as explosive as it has been but that’s because they were facing Giants ace, Madison Bumgarner. He would be cruising into the fourth inning when he made a mistake to Rockies all-star Troy Tulowitzki. On a 2-2 pitch, Bumgarner would elevate a 94-mph fastball that Tulo would send over the fence in left-center for the 1-0 lead.

Jumping ahead to the bottom of the fifth inning, Madison Bumgarner would find himself in another pitchers count. On a 2-2 pitch to Nolan Arenado, he would leave a 93-mph fastball down the middle that Arenado took advantage of, a towering home run over the fence in left for the 2-1 Rockies lead.

After Morales’s seven strong innings, Walt Weiss would turn to Adam Ottavino to pitch the eight. He was shaky for really the first time all year, giving up two hits which pushed Walt to bringing in lefty Rex Brothers. All Rex would need is one pitch and he would get Pablo Sandoval to ground into a 6-4-3 double play to end the trouble. Walt would keep Rex in to start the top half of the ninth with LaTroy Hawkins warming up in the bullpen. They kept him in to face Brandon Belt and he would get the lefty out on a 3-2 pitch, grounding out to Brothers who threw it to Justin Morneau for the first out.

Walt would turn to the veteran Hawkins to get the final two outs but it didn’t come easy. Hawkins would walk the lead-off batter Brandon Crawford after getting ahead of him earlier in the at-bat. After the walk, pinch-hitter Gregor Blanco would single to left-center, moving Crawford to second. The Giants would sent Hector Sanchez up to bat, pinch-hitting for Bumgarner and he would strike out swinging to be the second out of the inning. Finally, LaTroy would get lead-off hitter Angel Pagan to ground out to short to end the game, 2-1 in favor of the Rockies.

Notable Rockies Hitters:

• Brandon Barnes: 2-for-4.
• Nolan Arenado: 1-for-4, HR.
• Troy Tulowitzki: 1-for-4, HR.
• Justin Morneau: 2-for-4.

Rockies Pitchers:

• Franklin Morales (W, 2-1): 7.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 7 SO. 99 pitches, 67 strikes.
• Adam Ottavino (H, 5): 0.1 IP, 2 H.
• Rex Brothers (H, 6): 1.0 IP, 0 H.
• LaTroy Hawkins (S, 6): 0.2 IP, 1 H, 1 BB, 1 SO.

The Colorado Rockies (12-10) leapfrog the San Francisco Giants in the standings as they sit in second place, one-game back of the Los Angeles Dodgers. Colorado will go for the sweep tomorrow afternoon with Giants RHP Matt Cain toeing the rubber as he faced Rockies RHP Tyler Chatwood. First-pitch is scheduled for 3:10 PM ET, 1:10 PM MT.