San Francisco Giants third baseman Evan Longoria (10) gets congratulated as the Giants defeat the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field in Denver on Sun Aug 21, 2022 (@SFGiants photo)

San Francisco Breaks Four-Game Losing Streak Beats Colorado In 11th Inning 9-8

By Barbara Mason

Sunday afternoon the Colorado Rockies (53-70) and Coors Field hosted the San Francisco Giants (60-61) in the final game of their three game series. The Rockies took the first two games of the series and the Giants were hoping to avoid the sweep.

Unlike the first two games, San Francisco got on the scoreboard early. Brandon Crawford singled in the second inning driving in Evan Longoria for an early 1-0 lead. The Giants extended their lead in the same inning when Austin Wynns also singled driving in Thairo Estrada, the score now 2-0.

Just when it looked like the Giants had something going in this game, Colorado tied it all up in the fifth inning. Brian Serven sent a bullet out of the park and Sam Hilliard scored. The Rockies had evened the score at 2-2.

In the seventh inning, the Giants after four quiet innings, erupted with an Evan Longoria homer with the bases loaded. Mike Yastrzemski, Austin Slater and J.D. Davis all scored giving San Francisco a 6-2 lead. The Rockies added another run in the seventh inning off a Elehuris Montero solo home run.

The Giants were leading after eight innings 6-3 and Colorado was running out of time if a sweep was in their future. Although the Giants only had seven hits in the game the turning point was the grand slam from Longoria.

The Rockies continued to hang around and scored a run in the eighth inning. Charlie Blackmon singled driving in Ryan McMahon, the Rockies now trailing 6-4. Colorado tied up this game when Randal Grichuk homered and Blackmon scored. San Francisco found themselves in the same position as they did yesterday; tied up going into the ninth inning.

Neither team could finish this game off in the ninth inning and again the teams went into extra innings, a repeat of yesterday’s game. Unlike yesterday, the Giants took the lead in the tenth inning Thairo Estrada singled driving in Joc Pederson for a 7-6 lead.

The Giants would add to that lead off a Wynns double that scored Estrada. Leading 8-6 San Francisco was three outs away from breaking their four-game losing streak.

The Giants were not off the hook by a long shot. In the bottom of the tenth inning Colorado’s McMahon hit a single and Bernard on second scored, now only trailing by a single run. Blackmon would remedy that.

He singled driving in McMahon and we had a tie game 8-8. With the bases loaded and two outs, Colorado was looking for the sweep. San Francisco held on and this game was on to 11th inning.

Wilmer Flores hit a sacrifice fly in the 11th inning giving the Giants back the lead 9-8. Yastrzemski scored the run that would prove to be the winner. The San Francisco Giants were able to grind this one out the final 9-8.

They had to pull out all the stops to win this game and put an end their losing streak. It was long and at times ugly but the Giants refused to give this game away.

Tuesday night the Giants begin a two-game series with the Detroit Tigers at Comerica Park in Detroit. San Francisco will be sending ace Carlos Rodon to the mound with a 2.89 ERA and an outstanding win/loss record of 11-6. The Giants offense will be facing Tiger pitcher Drew Hutchison (1-6, 4.23). First pitch is scheduled for 4:10 PM PT.