Colorado Rockies: 3 things that stood out in the San Francisco series

The Colorado Rockies and San Francisco Giants split a four-game series at AT&T Park over the weekend, with Colorado taking the first two games of the matchup before the Giants rebounded to take the last two games.

Colorado is now 3-3 through the first two legs of their California road trip, with three more games to play, starting Monday night in Los Angeles.

Here are three things that stood out to us about the four-game set in San Francisco.

Nolan Arenado owns the Giants

More from Colorado Rockies News

• A Colorado Rockies Thanksgiving
• Colorado Rockies: Charlie Blackmon out for the season
• Colorado Rockies: Injuries shift look of roster ahead of Dodgers series
• Colorado Rockies: 3 things we appreciated from Tuesday in San Francisco
• What Bill Schmidt’s comments mean for the Colorado Rockies in 2023

If there is any team that is hoping Nolan Arenado doesn’t re-sign with the Colorado Rockies, it’s the San Francisco Giants. Frankly, those in the orange and black are tired of seeing Arenado make incredible defensive plays or break their hearts (again) at the plate.

After tying the game with a seventh-inning RBI single, Arenado now has 80 RBI in 92 games against San Francisco. That, of course, includes a Father’s Day that no Rockies fan will ever forget.

But let’s focus on what Arenado did in these four games in San Francisco. The All-Star third baseman went 9-for-18 and even swiped a base on Sunday, showing yet another way he can terrorize San Francisco. However, those nine hits resulted in just two RBI, showing some of the struggles Charlie Blackmon is currently having at the plate that we highlighted in this article.

Second base is a problem

The Rockies still need to figure out something at second base. Granted, we don’t know exactly how long DJ LeMahieu will be out of the lineup but what Colorado’s current solutions at second base showed at the plate this weekend in San Francisco isn’t good.

Daniel Castro is now hitting .158/.158/.263 for the season … and went 2-for-11 in three starts against the Giants. His current alternative, Pat Valaika, is still not able to find the success he had for the Rockies last season. Granted, he had a single and double in Sunday’s matinee, but he is still hitting just .132 for the season.

Those stats won’t cut it and the Rockies are simply hoping right now that LeMahieu’s injured thumb will heal sooner than later. If he misses an extended period of time, the Rockies will need to find a reinforcement, which could be in the form of Garrett Hampson (who was recently promoted to Triple-A) or the versatile Ryan McMahon, who can play first, second or third base.

Jake McGee is struggling

For the third consecutive outing, Rockies reliever Jake McGee didn’t work a clean appearance … and Sunday’s could have been the costliest outing for McGee yet this season.

The Rockies southpaw entered Sunday’s game with the Rockies in a 5-5 tie and inherited two runners after a tough outing from Bryan Shaw. On the second pitch he saw from McGee, Brandon Belt lifted a three-run homer into McCovey Cove to give the Giants the lead. The next batter, Nick Hundley, hit a home run to left on a full count pitch.

Part of the issue? McGee’s velocity. Belt’s homer was plastered off a 91 mph four-seamer. It continues a disturbing trend where the zip that McGee showed in 2017 hasn’t been there this season. In fact, the numbers look very similar to 2016 when McGee struggled mightily.

Next: What Rockies fans need to realize about Ian Desmond

A pair of singles followed that and McGee was done for the day, facing four batters and recording just one out (when Brandon Crawford was picked off). The outing raised his ERA for the season to 5.82 after it was sitting at 1.74 after April 22’s appearance.