Rockies Fall Out of First Place and Lose Series against the Giants

     The Colorado Rockies lost the series finale on Sunday afternoon to the Giants by a final score of 7-3. The Rockies had their chances early on in the game against Giants starter Matt Cain but unfortunately they were not able to capitalize on them. Cain was wild an inefficient on the day but was able to limit the damage that he sustained by getting some timely outs.

     Jon Garland had another sub par outing and has left his future with the Colorado Rockies up in the air. The Rockies have other options especially when Jeff Francis comes off of the disabled list. Tyler Chatwood or Drew Pomeranz would be the likely two candidates to replace Garland in the rotation when the decision is made to cut ties with the veteran right hander. Garland finished the day going five innings allowing seven hits, five runs (two earned runs), four walks and struck out two batters. This is another start that he failed to limit the damage against him and could not keep the opponent off of the base paths. Garland has now lost four straight games and his record is 3-6 with a 5.05 ERA. His counter part Matt Cain did not have a good game either, but the difference was the ability that he showed to get out of trouble and limit the damage. Cain also went five innings in the game allowing two hits and two runs and was wild on the day as he issued five walks and struck out six. All five of his walks were in the first two innings and at one point in the game he went into the windup even with runners on base. Even though he was less than spectacular , he was still able to pick up the victory and push his record to 4-2 with a 5.00 ERA.

     Dexter Fowler and DJ LeMahieu were the only Rockies who managed to get anything going on the offensive side as they both were able to connect for two hits on the day. Other than that the Rockies struggled. They struck out 10 times on the day and failed to capitalize on any opportunities that they had. The Giants were led offensively by Marco Scutaro, Buster Posey, Hunter Pence and Andres Torres. Each player had two hits during the game. Pence had two doubles and Torres had one and Buster Posey got the Giants on the board in the second inning with a solo home run off of Jon Garland.

     The Rockies are heading to Houston to play two games in Houston before returning to Denver to play another two against the Astros. Both Monday and Tuesday's games are afternoon games with first pitch at 12:10 PM Mountain time each day.