The Colorado Rockies clinched their first series victory in more than a month with Saturday night’s 8-3 victory over the San Francisco Giants and will go for a sweep of the teams’ three-game set on Sunday afternoon.
Colorado will send right-hander Tanner Gordon (0-0, 5.85 ERA) to the mound against Giants left-hander Robbie Ray (3-6, 4.60).
Sunday will be Gordon’s second start of the season. Primarily a reliever, he made his season debut as a starter at the Los Angeles Dodgers on Monday night, allowing a run on six hits over five innings. He didn’t get the decision in the Rockies’ 5-3 loss but saw room for improvement after four of the five leadoff batters reached against him.
“Obviously, we want to come out with the win,” Gordon told reporters after the outing. “I was able to keep us in the game for those five innings, and the defense was making good plays behind me. I was just staying out of the middle of the zone.”
Gordon, 28, whose seven quality starts last season were tied for the most among MLB rookies, finished 2025 with a team-high six wins. Despite his success, he was sent to the minors after spring training, and he served as a long reliever for Triple-A Albuquerque.
He will face the Giants for just the second time in his short career. He allowed four runs on nine hits over six innings against them on July 27, 2024, and took the loss. He has the chance to give Colorado its first series sweep since the team took three games from the New York Mets from April 24-26.
Ray, meanwhile, will try to end the Giants’ five-game losing streak. San Francisco’s bullpen couldn’t hold a three-run lead Friday night, losing 8-6, and the offense went dormant Saturday night until the later innings, when it tacked on three meaningless runs.
Ray is accustomed to a scarce offense; in six of his 11 starts this season, San Francisco has scored one run or less, but he has also struggled to go deep into games. Ray has not pitched past the fifth inning over his last three starts and has just one victory in his last eight outings.
“Mechanics are a little off right now,” he said following his last game, when he gave up four runs and two hits over four innings in a no-decision vs. the Chicago White Sox last Sunday. “The ball’s just not jumping out how it usually does. I just need to figure out what’s different. Probably just the whole delivery really, going back and seeing when things were going good, what I was doing.”
Giants manager Tony Vitello said Ray is feeling fine physically; it’s a matter of making adjustments.
“It’s not like he’s trying to throw balls out of the zone, so it was kind of interesting,” Vitello said. “The last outing prior to that he threw almost nothing but strikes. Maybe just trying to be a little too fine.”
Sunday will be Ray’s 23rd career start against the Rockies, the second-most starts he’s made against any team in his career behind the Dodgers. In the 22 previous starts against Colorado, he is 6-6 with a 5.24 ERA.
–Field Level Media
