Colorado Rockies Cruise To Victory Thanks To Carlos Gonzalez, Nolan Arenado

June 26, 2015; San Francisco, CA, USA; Colorado Rockies third baseman N. Arenado (28) is congratulated by first baseman B. Paulsen (10) for hitting a three-run home run during the sixth inning against the San Francisco Giants at AT&T Park. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports

The Colorado Rockies returned to San Francisco — the scene of their April road sweep — to take on the Giants in the first of three games this weekend.

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Carlos Gonzalez went 5-for-5, and Nolan Arenado hit two long home runs, and the Colorado Rockies defeated the San Francisco Giants despite a furious ninth inning rally, 8-6, on Friday night at AT&T Park.

Both Tim Hudson and Chad Bettis started the game strongly for their respective clubs, and even though each dealt with baserunners here and there — the Rockies left the bases loaded in the second inning — both hurlers had shut out their opponents well into the fifth inning.

In the bottom of the fifth, with two outs, Bettis flinched first, allowing a solo home run to catcher Andrew Susac that made it a 1-0 game in favor of the Giants.

In the top of the sixth, Troy Tulowitzki and Carlos Gonzalez hit back-to-back singles to put runners on first and third with nobody out off Hudson, with Nolan Arenado due to the plate. Arenado drove in Tulo from third … and CarGo from first … and himself from the plate … with a no-doubter three-run blast to left field that put the Rockies up 3-1.

In the bottom of the sixth, the Giants rallied with two bloop singles and put two runners on with two outs against Bettis for Brandon Belt, who ripped an RBI single of his own and made the game 3-2.

Brandon Crawford then singled, too — giving the Giants four straight two-out singles — to re-tie the game at three runs apiece off Bettis. Bettis was done after six, allowing six hits and two walks, and the three total runs, while striking out three Giants’ hitters on 94 pitches (51 strikes).

The Rockies would answer in the seventh though with three more runs, first started by a CarGo double off reliever Javier Lopez that scored Charlie Blackmon, and then followed by a seeing-eye 2-RBI single from Ben Paulsen to give the Rockies a 6-3 lead going into the bottom of the seventh inning.

In the ninth inning, CarGo hit a triple — his fifth hit of the night, to cap a 5-for-5 Friday evening at the plate — and scored on a wild pitch. The wild pitch turned out to be irrelevant, since Arenado crushed his second home run of the night on the very next pitch, and the Rockies made the game an 8-3 affair.

Tommy Kahnle came on in the ninth inning with the five-run lead, and walked three of the first four hitters he faced, before allowing Gregor Blanco to hit an RBI single and make the game 8-5. Joe Panik singled to make it 8-6, bringing the winning run to the plate in the form of Matt Duffy, still with only one out.

Duffy struck out after nearly hitting a double — it was foul by inches — and Kahnle faced Buster Posey with two on and two out, with the Giants down two runs. Kahnle struck out Posey to seal the deal, despite allowing three runs in the ninth.

The Rockies and Giants continue their series Saturday afternoon at AT&T Park, before finishing the three-game set on Sunday afternoon.

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