The situation is unchanged, but the young players performed well for the Rockies on Wednesday night.
Yes, they were defeated 8-6 by the Giants at Coors Field, as their record dropped to 8-28. And yes, starter Peter Lambert struggled in his short appearance. But there were a few signs of hope amid the disappointment:
• Catcher Elias Diaz hit a two-run homer off Camilo Doval in the ninth, making the Giants worried.
• Right-hander Anthony Molina, the Rule-5 draft pickup, relieved Lambert and showed some of the talent that interested the Rockies during the offseason. He allowed one unearned run and struck out three in his 3 2/3 innings. After a disastrous start to his Rockies career, he’s allowed no earned runs over his last five outings.
• Rookie left fielder Jordan Beck, who struggled after getting two hits in his big-league debut on April 30, delivered a double in Colorado’s two-run fifth inning to end a 0-for-13 skid. He also singled in the sixth.
• Speedy center fielder Brenton Doyle, last year’s Gold Glove winner as a rookie, broke out of an 0-for-11 slump with a two-out triple in the second inning and scored easily on a wild pitch by Giants starter Jordan Hicks.
• Sean Bouchard, who began the season at Triple-A, started again in right field, hit 3 for 4 with singles in the second and sixth and a double off the right-field wall in the eighth.
• And although he’s far from being a kid, 37-year-old Charlie Blackmon broke out of his own slump with a 2-for-4 night that included two RBIs and a walk. With his two RBIs, Blackmon has driven in 760 runs, tying him with former Rockie Nolan Arenado for fourth in franchise history.
However, beneath the positives, Colorado secured another series loss by losing the first two games to San Francisco and remains the only team this season without a series victory.
They are also the only team that has yet to win consecutive games this season. They have now gone 36 games without winning back-to-back games, the longest streak in franchise history.
Lambert, whose hold on his spot in the rotation is tenuous, retired the Giants in order in the first inning, but the Giants battered Lambert for six runs on seven hits in the second, sending 11 men to the plate. Michael Conforto began the Giants’ hit parade with a solo home run to right. Included in the onslaught was a perfect bunt by Nick Ahmed to score Mike Yastrzemski from third.
The Giants added another run off Lambert in the third, combining Yastrzemski’s leadoff triple with Blake Sabol’s double. Lambert’s ERA rose from 5.66 to 7.61 after he gave up seven runs on nine hits over three innings.
