Rockies swept by Giants as strikeouts continue to pile up

The Rockies’ offseason to-do list is a lengthy. Like “War and Peace” lengthy.

Two items near the top of that scroll were illustrated in the Rockies’ 6-3 loss to the Giants on Sunday night at Oracle Park before a national TV audience on ESPN.

The Rockies struck out a total of 12 times as San Francisco rookie right-hander Keaton Winn set a career high with nine K’s over his six innings. Colorado has now fanned 1,346 times this season, overtaking Cincinnati (1,341) for the dubious achievement of having the most strikeouts by any National League team.

The Rockies also served up three home runs — all three by starter Peter Lambert — to bring their season total to 210, second-most in the NL behind the Nationals (220).

The Giants, who limped into the weekend having lost six consecutive games, moved back into the thick of the National League wild-card race by sweeping the three-game series. The Giants (73-70) are 1 1/2 games out of the final playoff spot.

San Francisco, which has won 16 of the last 17 meetings between the two clubs, outscored Colorado 24-12 in the series. During their six-game skid, the Giants were outscored 41-14. What a difference an opponent makes.

Colorado, on pace to lose 104 games, has dropped 16 of its last 19 games.

Colorado took a 3-0 lead in the second on rookie Hunter Goodman’s two-run triple, followed by a sacrifice fly by Sean Bouchard. San Francisco scratched out two runs on three hits off Lambert in the bottom of the frame.

The third inning was Lambert’s undoing. Rockies nemesis Thairo Estrada led off with a solo homer to center. Then Lamont Wade Jr. stroked a two-out single to right and trotted home on Mitch Haniger’s two-run homer to left-center.

Joc Pederson’s solo homer off Lambert in the fifth finished off the scoring. Lambert pitched five innings, giving up eight hits as his ERA rose from 5.03 to 5.36.

Colorado managed only six hits, three of them coming from first baseman Elehuris Montero, who’s raised his average to .243. Montero, who started at first base and hit cleanup Sunday night, is riding a career-best 18-game on-base streak, hitting safely in 14 of those 18 games while slashing .356/.440/.576 with eight extra-base hits and 10 RBIs over that span.

The Rockies return home Monday to host the Cubs at Coors Field in the first game of a three-game series.

Want more Rockies news? Sign up for the Rockies Insider to get all our MLB analysis.

Source: Read Full Article