Rockies Leave A Small Army On Base, Lose To Giants

After two starts Christian Friedrich appears to have to turned into the pitcher the Rockies were hoping for when they drafted him with their first pick in the 2008 draft, and not the pitcher that went 19-24 over his minor league career. In just his second career major league start, Friedrich struck out a 2012 Rockies high ten batters over seven innings, only walked one batter and gave up only one run, a solo shot by Gregor Blanco to lead off the 6th inning. Dominating the Giants line-up early in the game, Friedrich did not allow a base runner until the 4th inning while striking out six of the first nine batter he faced. He pounded the strike zone all night throwing 69 strikes on 93 pitches.

As good as Friedrich was, the offense was equally as bad. Giants starter Ryan Vogelsong walked three batters in the 1st inning, but did not allow any to score with the help of a caught stealing and two strike outs. In the 3rd inning the Rockies loaded the bases with a two out Carlos Gonzalez double followed by walks to Troy Tulowitzki and Todd Helton. Michael Cuddyer then ended the inning with a deep fly ball to left-center field leaving the bases full of Rockies. Colorado eventually got on the scoreboard as Wilin Rosario led off the 4th with a deep home run to left field.

The 8th inning would be the Rockies undoing, with Dexter Fowler batting in place of Tyler Colvin, Fowler lined a foul ball into the Rockies dugout, hitting Troy Tulowitzki in the side of his knee. Tulowitzki reached base, beating out an infield single, but was noticeably limping and was lifted for Chris Nelson. Cuddyer would strike out to end the inning, stranding two more base runners.
Rex Brothers started the bottom of the inning giving up a single to Gregor Blanco, then was replaced by Matt Belisle who gave up 3 hits in his one inning, allowing the inherited runner to score as well as one of his own to put the Rockies down 3-1.

Colorado mustered a small rally in the 9th, Jonathan Herrera singled, Jason Giambi walked, and Marco Scutaro hit a ground ball between the legs of third baseman Joaquin Arias to score Herrera. With runners on second and third and one out, Dexter Fowler struck out and the Giants intentionally walked Carlos Gonzalez to get to Chris Nelson, who replaced Troy Tulowitzki an inning earlier. Nelson would ground out the third base ending the game, leaving three more Rockies on base.

In total the Rockies would walk eight times, without any of those runners scoring and left eleven runners on base. Sergio Romo got the win for the Giants, striking out Cuddyer the end the eight. Rex Brothers got the loss giving up a hit to his only batter. Santiago Casilla earned his 8th save of the season. The loss drops the Rockies to 13-21 on the season and moves them to over 10 games of the division leading Dodgers.