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 It was just the 17th time in Rockies history they have won a 2-1
game at Coors Field.
Carlos Gonzalez hit his 36th homer, and one pitch later, Nolan
Arenado belted his 35th. He was greeted in the dugout by Gonzalez,
who gave Arenado a mission-accomplished hug.
"I told him in spring training we needed to go back-to-back,"
Arenado said, "and we haven't done it the whole year. And we finally
did it in September, so it was just a big old hug. We were pumped
up. It was a lot of fun to do that."
Those were the only runs Giants rookie starter Chris Heston (11-9)
allowed in 5 2/3 innings as he quickly regrouped and got 11 outs on
ground balls. But De La Rosa (9-6) was better. He limited San
Francisco to one run in seven innings, allowing six hits with no
walks and seven strikeouts.
De La Rosa got the Giants to hit into two double plays, finishing
his 103-pitch workday that included 70 strikes with one in the
seventh.
In the fifth, De La Rosa gave up a leadoff double to catcher Buster
Posey but retired the next three batters. De La Rosa's streak of 12
consecutive scoreless innings ended when the Giants broke through in
the sixth on Pagan's one-out single. Duffy followed with a single
and with two outs, De La Rosa hit Posey to load the bases. But he
struck out right fielder Marlon Byrd on a high cutter.
"I mixed all my pitches really good today," De La Rosa said. "That's
why I make those big outs. I was attacking the hitters and did a
really good job of it."
The win was the third straight for the Rockies, one short of their
season-best winning streak. They have won four straight games four
times this season and last did it July 9-12 with a four-game sweep
of the visiting Atlanta Braves leading into the All-Star break. The
Rockies, a distant last in the National League West, have won five
of their past seven games, their best stretch since the break.
Back-to-back home runs by Gonzalez and Arenado on consecutive
pitches gave the Rockies a 2-0 lead in the first. Right fielder
Gonzalez hit a long drive down the right field that was called foul.
The call was upheld after a crew-chief review, not that it mattered
to Gonzalez. He drove Heston's next pitch to right-center for his
36th homer.
Gonzalez leads the National League in that category, and third
baseman Arenado stayed right on his heels when he belted Heston's
first pitch into the left-field stands. Arenado joins Larry Walker
in 1999 and Dante Bichette in 1995 as the only players in Rockies
history to homer in five consecutive games.
"I wouldn't hit five in a row if I was just thinking about homers,"
Arenado said. "I'm just thinking about hitting the ball hard,
helping the team win and good things have been happening."
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Not for the Giants. They have lost seven straight games and 10 of
their past 13. During their seven-game skid, they have scored 15
runs and hit one homer -- by pitcher Ryan Vogelsong. San Francisco's
power outage has been even more severe. The Giants have hit just
seven homers in their past 18 games. Their top four home run hitters
this season -- shortstop Brandon Crawford with 19 homers, first
baseman Brandon Belt (17), Posey (16) and Duffy (10) -- have
combined for 350 at-bats since one of those four last homered.
"It's a tough stretch, no doubt about it," Posey said. "You'd be
lying if you said it wasn't. We got to find a way to turn it around
though. It's all you really can do. You can't feel sorry for
yourself. You can't pout. You just got to come ready to play and
hope that tomorrow's the day that we get back on track I think we've
shown that we can put some winning streaks together, so we have to
keep in mind that that's something that's possible."
NOTES: Rockies 1B Justin Morneau (concussion symptoms) was activated
from the 60-day disabled list and went 1-for-4 in his first game for
the Rockies since May 13. ... Rockies OF/1B Matt McBride was
designated for assignment to make room on the 40-man roster for
Morneau. The Rockies selected McBride's contract from Triple-A
Albuquerque on Aug. 12, and he hit .167 (7-for-42) in 20 games,
including nine starts. ... Rockies INF Rafael Ynoa was recalled from
Triple-A Albuquerque to begin his third stint with the Rockies. He
began the season with the Rockies and hit .225 in 51 games. ...
Rockies LF Corey Dickerson (fractured ribs) played five innings in
the field and went 1-for-3 for Triple-A Albuquerque after serving as
the designated hitter in his first two rehab games. ... Giants SS
Brandon Crawford was back in the lineup Friday after missing the
past three games due to a swollen left calf, the result of getting
hit with a pitch Monday night. He went 0-for-4 with three
strikeouts... Giants RHP Matt Cain (elbow nerve irritation) began a
rehab assignment at Triple-A Sacramento and gave up one hit in two
scoreless innings in relief while throwing 32 pitches, 23 strikes.
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