The San Francisco Giants hope to rebound from what manager Tony Vitello labeled a “low point” in a 10-0 loss to Toronto on Wednesday when they seek a measure of revenge in a four-game home series against the Colorado Rockies beginning Thursday night.
Left-hander Carson Whisenhunt (1-0, 3.60 ERA) is expected to be promoted from Triple-A Sacramento to start the series opener against Rockies right-hander Ryan Feltner (3-2, 4.27).
The Giants and Rockies will meet for a third series this season, but for the first time in San Francisco. Colorado won the first two series in Denver, taking two of three games in May and two of three again last week.
Feltner won his start in each previous series, benefitting from 23 runs of offensive support. The Rockies have outscored the Giants 48-43 in the six high-scoring affairs.
Colorado has won three of Feltner’s past four starts, during which he has not allowed more than two earned runs. He limited the Giants to two earned runs and six hits over six innings last Friday in a 15-3 win.
The 29-year-old is 2-3 with a 3.51 ERA in seven career starts against San Francisco.
Colorado flew into town late Wednesday night after losing two of three games at the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Rockies lost twice in the Dodgers’ final at bat.
Colorado has won five of its past eight games and will take the field in San Francisco with an attitude.
“We’re a bunch of grinders,” catcher Braxton Fulford told reporters. “We’re gonna be scrappy. We’re not gonna give up. We’re gonna punch you in the mouth late in the game.”
Just one game ahead of the Rockies in the battle to avoid last place in the National League West, the Giants had hoped 10 consecutive games against teams under .500 leading into the All-Star break would help the club move up in the standings.
Instead, they lost two of three games in Denver last week, then two of three at home against the Toronto Blue Jays leading into this four-game set.
And Vitello especially wants to wipe away the memory of a 10-0 loss to the Jays on Wednesday. Toronto ace Dylan Cease took a no-hitter into the ninth inning, but leadoff hitter Heliot Ramos broke it up with a single. The Giants were down 5-0 when they went to the plate in their half of the first inning after Toronto’s first six batters.
San Francisco also committed three infield errors.
One of the errors occurred when, with the bases loaded and two outs in a 5-0 game in the eighth inning, the Giants appeared to be on the verge of getting out of the jam unscathed. Myles Straw hit a routine double-play grounder to shortstop, but Luis Arraez’s relay throw to first, in plenty of time, went right through the stitching of first baseman Rafael Devers’ mitt, allowing a run to score and the inning to continue.
The Blue Jays added another run in the inning and then three in the ninth on home runs by Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and George Springer, raising the level of defeat to an embarrassing level, Vitello said afterward.
“It was a low point,” he told reporters, “from a couple of defensive plays, to not finishing the game the way we needed to on the mound, to obviously not having a lot to show offensively.”
In order to give veteran Robbie Ray an extra day of rest, Whisenhunt is expected to be promoted to make his second start of the year. He threw the first five innings of a 7-5 win at Atlanta on June 17.
The 25-year-old hasn’t faced the Rockies in his two-year career.
–Field Level Media
