Colorado Rockies morning after: A thought for Friday's every inning

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Jun 16, 2017; Denver, CO, USA; General wide view of Coors Field during the seventh of the game between the San Francisco Giants against the Colorado Rockies. Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports /

On Friday night, the San Francisco Giants and Colorado Rockies met at Coors Field to continue their four-game set. Game one was a wild one, won 10-9 by the Rockies after blowing an eight run lead in the seventh inning. Friday night’s game ended with the Rockies winning 10-8 and here’s an inning-by-inning breakdown of the matchup.

FIRST INNING: PANIK GIVES GIANTS THE LEAD

Antonio Senzatela (8-2, 3.84 ERA) has struggled in the first inning this year. In his last start five days ago, Senzatela gave up a career-high four runs in the first inning. Earlier this year, he gave up three runs to the Giants in the first inning.

Joe Panik exacerbated the first inning woes for Senzatela, going deep off of him on the fourth pitch of the game, a poorly located four-seam fastball over the middle of the plate. Senzatela was able to get out of inning with no further damage and on few pitches, but the Giants led 1-0 after one inning, despite two Rockies hits in the bottom of the inning.

SECOND INNING: SENZATELA AND SAMARDZIJA HOLD SERVE

Senzatela had a stress-free 1-2-3 second inning on the mound, inducing a groundout, a strikeout, and a fly out on 18 pitches. Meanwhile, his counterpart, Jeff Samardzija (2-8, 4.31 ERA), also had a low-stress inning, not allowing a run despite a lead-off hit from Raimel Tapia.

THIRD INNING: SPAN HOMERS, BUT ROX SCORE TOO

Senzatela continued his dominant pitching, but Denard Span was able to tag him for a homerun in the top of third inning. The home run was only the second hit of the game Senzatela had given up, but unfortunately both were home runs.

The Rockies came to bat trailing 2-0, but having picked up three hits off Samardzija in the first two innings. The trend continued in the third with back-to-back doubles from Charlie Blackmon and DJ LeMahieu, scoring a run. The Rox weren’t able to bring LeMahieu home and trailed 2-1 after three innings.

Jun 16, 2017; Denver, CO, USA; MLB home plate umpire Gary Cederstrom works on a issue with the instant replay system causing a short delay in the start of the game between the game between the San Francisco Giants against the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field. Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports /

FOURTH INNING: STRIKE OUT, STRIKE OUT, THROW OUT

Senzatela had an excellent fourth inning, picking up two strikeouts, include a “strike ’em out, throw ’em out” double play. Through four innings, his strikeout total was five and his pitch count was a modest 56. The Rockies were unable to score in the bottom of the frame and continued to trail by one run.

FIFTH INNING: ROCKIES TAKE THE LEAD, SCORING FIVE

Nick Hundley hit a ground ball to the Rockies’ shortstop, Alexi Amarista, who threw on to first. Hundley was called safe on the field, but the Rockies challenged. Unfortunately, the call was just too close to overturn and Hundley was ruled safe after review.

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Senzatela didn’t care at all about the call at first base and chose to get the next batter, Aaron Hill, to bounce into a 4-6-3 double play. A walk to the next batter brought Samardzija to the plate with two outs. Samardzija crushed the ball deep to center field for his third career home run. Despite the home run to the opposing pitcher, Senzatela quickly settled down and ended the inning.

A lead-off base hit and a sac bunt put a runner in scoring position for Blackmon in the bottom half of the frame. Blackmon took full advantage, hit a four-seam fastball into left field for a triple. LeMahieu then drove in Blackmon with a single to center field. With the hit, LeMahieu picked up his seventh hit of the series in just eight at-bats.

After LeMahieu, Nolan Arenado pulled a single through the infield to put two on. Carlos Gonzalez couldn’t take advantage, but Ian Desmond hit a long shot into the right field bleachers to give the Rockies a 6-4 lead after five innings.

SIXTH INNING: GIANTS AND ROX ADD A RUN EACH

The sixth inning was Senzatela’s first opportunity of the game to pitch with the lead. He got off to a shaky start, allowing a lead-off double to Panik, who advanced to third on a ground out from Brandon Belt. Hunter Pence then hit a roller to second that scored Panik to bring the Giants within one. The Rockies scored in the bottom of the frame on a pinch-hit homerun from Trevor Story to give them their two run lead right back, 7-5.

Jun 16, 2017; Denver, CO, USA; Colorado Rockies relief pitcher Greg Holland (56) celebrates the win over the San Francisco Giants at Coors Field. Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports /

SEVENTH INNING: OTTAVINO SHUTS DOWN THE GIANTS, BOCHY TOSSED

Adam Ottavino replaced Senzatela after six great innings from him. Ottavino pitched a great inning himself in the seventh, striking out Hundley, getting Hill to popout, and striking out Austin Slater on a check swing.

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Bruce Bochy was ejected in the inning for arguing balls and strikes after a walk given up by Samardzija. Later, Desmond hit a sac fly to left field for his fourth RBI of the day. Tapia later hit a single to right that got past Pence for a three-bagger and a run scored. Amarista followed with a double, scoring another run for the Rockies. Gonzalez was also able to break out of an 0-27 stretch with a base hit as the Rox took an 10-5 lead to the eighth.

EIGHTH INNING: GIANTS SCORE TWO TO GET WITHIN THREE

Chris Rusin came in for the Rockies for the eighth inning and allowed a Span triple, a Panik RBI double, and a Pence RBI single. That brought the game’s score to 10-7 in favor of the Rockies. The Rockies could not score in the bottom half of the inning and were three outs away from a victory.

Next: The Rockies and the Carlos Gonzalez Conundrum

NINTH INNING: ROCKIES FINISH OFF WIN NUMBER 44

Greg Holland began the season by saving 23 consecutive games. On Thursday night, he picked up his first blown save of the year, but did eventually pick up his first win since 2015.

Friday night, Holland allowed a triple to Gorkys Hernandez, an RBI single to Slater, and a walk to pinch-hitter Buster Posey. Nonetheless, Holland earned the save, his 24th of the year and began a new streak of consecutive saves converted. The Rockies improve to 44-26 on the year and maintained a one-game lead over the Diamondbacks and the Dodgers.

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Colorado Rockies morning after: A thought for Friday’s every inning

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