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San Francisco Giants Head to Coors Field for More Whacky Baseball Fun

By Sean Bialaszek

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The San Francisco Giants are red hot, and this matchup with the Colorado Rockies will be a complete 180 of the first time they met. When the Giants welcomed the Rockies to AT&T Park on April 13th, they were 3-4, and in the midst of a losing streak that would eventually reach eight games.

Now, the Giants are 23-18, five games over .500 for the first time this year, and riding a six-game winning streak including three against the Cincinnati Reds and three shutouts of the Los Angeles Dodgers. San Francisco is just 1.5 back of the Dodgers for first in the National League West, and only a half-game behind the New York Mets and Chicago Cubs for a wildcard spot.

But the Giants are heading to Coors, where the unexpected is what’s come to be expected. The Rockies are 15-23 on the year, good for last place in the West. They are 6-11 at home, but are 4-1 against the Giants so far.

These two teams split the first two games of a three-game series at Coors earlier this year, but didn’t get a chance to play the rubber match as Mother Nature decided to give them a Sunday off. The washed out game will be made up as part of a Saturday day-night doubleheader.

Each team will get a 26th man for Saturday, as per MLB’s rules with doubleheaders. The most likely scenario involves the Giants bringing up a reliever to add another arm to the bullpen. Hunter Strickland (1.74 ERA, 7.3 K/BB, five saves in Triple-A Sacramaneto) is one name that has been brought up on more than one occasion by the Giants’ writers.

Trying to predict what will happen in a series at Coors Field is like trying to predict the winning lottery numbers. There’s just no telling what will happen, and some weirdness usually comes about at some point.

Here are the scheduled starters for the four-game set.

Game 1: Ryan Vogelsong (2-2, 5.31 ERA) vs. Kyle Kendrick (1-5, 6.70 ERA)

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Vogelsong is riding a big wave of momentum in his past three starts. He’s 2-0 with a 1.37 ERA and .966 WHIP, and has become a big surprise for the team when they really needed a starter to fill in.

Coors has been unkind to the 37-year-old veteran. In nine games (five starts), he’s 2-3 with a 7.82 ERA, and there are some Rockies’ hitters with big numbers against him.

Nolan Arenado is 4-7 (.571) with two home runs. Corey Dickerson is 5-10 (.500), also with two home runs. Backup catcher Michael McKenry could find his way into the lineup for this game, as he’s 4-11 (.364), also with a pair of home runs.

Kendrick is not off to a great start with his new team after eight years with the Philadelphia Phillies. In a pair of starts at his new home park, he’s allowed 12 earned runs in 12 innings.

That’s nothing new, as Coors has always been rough to him, like a lot of pitchers. In nine games (eight starts) in the thin air, he’s given up 34 earned runs in 49.2 innings of work for a 6.16 ERA.

Casey McGehee saw Kendrick a few times when the two were rivals in the NL East, and is 7-20 (.350) with a double, home run, and five RBI off Kendrick. Buster Posey is 5-10 (.500) against Kendrick.

Game 2: Chris Heston (3-3, 3.72 ERA) vs. Jordan Lyles (2-4, 4.53 ERA)

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This will be game one of the Saturday doubleheader.

Heston needs to make a big adjustment from his first start at Coors. He gave up 11 hits and six runs in 5.1 innings while taking the loss. His most recent start was even worse, as he allowed five runs on seven hits without recording an out in the third inning for the shortest start of his young career.

Heston has shown the ability to fix his problems in between starts, and he’ll need to do that again in his second start in Denver.

Lyles is coming off a bad start against the Phillies, where he allowed four runs and seven hits in six innings en route to a loss. In his career at Coors, he is 6-3 with a 4.57 ERA, but has been better this season. Despite a 1-2 record, his ERA is down to 3.51.

Gregor Blanco could find a start against Lyles, as he’s 4-7 (.571) with a home run. He likely won’t replace Angel Pagan, though, who is 4-8 (.500) with a double against Lyles. Posey, Andrew Susac, and Hunter Pence each own a home run off Lyles.

Game 3: Yusmeiro Petit (1-0, 3.27 ERA) vs. TBD

Petit is scheduled to go in game two of the twin billing, but that is far from a certainty. He could be needed beforehand as a long reliever, and that would shake up the slated starters.

After a rough start to the year, Petit has been much better. He’s allowed just one run in his past 11 innings, spanning six outings. Starting at Coors Field is a risky proposition, however, as he is flyball pitcher. He leads the team by recording 58 percent of his outs in the air.

The Rockies haven’t announced a starter yet, and there really hasn’t been any indication of who will start. One option is Christian Bergman. He did pitch on Thursday, but he could possibly give the team a few innings, maybe three or four, before allowing it to turn into a bullpen game.

Game 4: Tim Hudson (2-3, 4.01 ERA) vs. Chad Bettis (0-0, 5.73 ERA)

Hudson is coming off an extremely strong start that began the shutout streak against the Dodgers. In 6.1 innings, he allowed just seven baserunners, five hits and two walks, to earn his second win of the year.

He pitched once at Coors Field this year, and pitched pretty well, giving up three runs (two home runs) in seven innings. He took a no decision, and has still never won at Coors, making it one of two currently used ballparks at which Hudson has never won a start (the other being Minnesota’s Target Field).

Bettis will be making his third start of the year, and has allowed seven runs in 11 innings during the first two. He does have some history against the Giants, but it’s not good. In five games (one start), he’s 0-2 with a 6.55 ERA, including giving up a grand slam to Hector Sanchez in the 11th inning of a tie game that would be the game-winner.

Brandon Belt is 5-5 with a double against Bettis, and Pence is 2-5 with a home run.

Notes:

The Rockies’ bullpen took a big blow when Adam Ottavino went in for Tommy John surgery. He had allowed just five baserunners in 10.1 shutout innings before having to go under the knife. The rest of the bullpen’s numbers haven’t been great, as they own a 4.76 ERA as a unit.

They’ve been much better over the past nine games, however. In 38 innings, they’ve held opposing batters to a .212 average, and own a 1.66 ERA.

The Giants’ bullpen has been excellent this year. They have a cumulative ERA of 2.84, good for eighth-best in baseball. They’ve also been great at stranding inherited runners, as just 13 percent (10-77) have scored against them. Jeremy Affeldt has stranded 14 of the 15 he’s inherited, and Javier Lopez has stranded 19 of his 20.

Justin Maxwell should be pleased to be headed back to Coors Field. In the short two games there earlier this year, he went 3-9 (.333) with a pair of home runs (including one to the opposite field) and four RBI. That came in the midst of his uber hot-streak earlier in the season.

The Giants are riding a heat wave, and they’ll look to break through against the Rockies. Colorado has had the Giants’ number this year, but that was when the Giants were backed against the ropes, taking body blow after body blow.

The Giants have a renewed vigor, and their bats are more alive than the last time they visited Coors. This time around, San Francisco is ready to play.

Next: Crawford is the New Giants' Offensive Weapon

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