Two pitchers who have struggled at Coors Field will meet when the San Francisco Giants and Colorado Rockies wrap up a three-game series Sunday afternoon in Denver.
Giants right-hander Tyler Mahle (1-8, 5.67 ERA), who has never won in Colorado, and Rockies righty Tanner Gordon (0-2, 6.69), who has yet to win at Coors Field this season, will start the finale of a series in which the teams have combined for 28 runs in two days.
Mahle has lost his last five decisions and is winless in his past eight starts. He will make his seventh career start against the Rockies, having gone 2-1 with a 5.08 ERA.
However, he remains in search of his first career win at Coors Field, where he’s gone 0-1 with a 6.61 ERA in three starts.
The 31-year-old will have to figure out a way to tame Rockies rookie Cole Carrigg, who has homered, tripled twice and singled in eight at-bats in the series, driving in six runs.
The native Californian has raised his season average from .269 to .293.
Carrigg said hitting his first big-league home run in his third game after a June promotion has played a major role in his overall success over the past four weeks.
“Getting my first hit and first home run out of the way early makes it a bit easier to focus on just playing and winning,” he told reporters recently. “Those moments, yeah they are about me, but at the end of the day, those are hits and runs that I’m getting for a better reason, and that’s to win ballgames. I’ve always played with the mentality of: Why play if you’re not going to play to win?”
The Rockies have gone 12-11 in the 23 games since his promotion to the majors.
Gordon was the losing pitcher in a 19-6 shellacking by the Giants at Coors Field on May 31, serving up six hits and four runs in three innings.
He’s scheduled to make his fourth start of the season, still looking for his first win. Including his earlier start against the Giants, he’s allowed nine runs and 15 hits over eight innings in his last two outings.
This will be his third career appearance against the Giants. He’s gone 0-2 with an ERA of 8.00 in the first two outings.
Gordon will see a Giants lineup that used seven doubles and a Bryce Eldridge home run to fuel Saturday’s series-tying victory. The Rockies won 15-3 on Friday, with the Giants taking a 6-4 triumph on Saturday.
Giants manager Tony Vitello told reporters after the Saturday’s game that his players have been overly aggressive seeking home runs at times this season.
“But not tonight,” he said. “They were really, really good in a bunch of situations. I think the compact swings really paid off.”
The Rockies have taken three of five games from the Giants this season. All five have been at Coors Field.
Colorado will embark on a seven-game road trip beginning Monday. The Rockies will stop in Los Angeles for three games against the Dodgers, with four in San Francisco to follow before the All-Star break.
–Field Level Media
