San Francisco Giants shortstop Willy Adames (left) fields a throw as Colorado Rockies Jake McCarthy (31) steals second base in the bottom of the seventh inning at Coors Field in Denver on Sat May 30, 2026 (AP News photo)
By Barbara Mason
It had been a nightmare of a series for the San Francisco Giants (22-36) losing game two to the Colorado Rockies (22-37). San Francisco did not get on the scoreboard until the top of the eighth inning. They denied Colorado the shutout but lost the game 8-3. Tomorrow they will be fighting to avoid a second sweep in a row. On top of their struggles at the plate they were not all that great from the mound.
Game recap: It was a quiet first inning for the Giants going three and out. The Rockies made a lot of noise in the bottom of the first. They loaded the bases with one out. San Francisco pitcher Adrian Houser walked Jake McCarthy and Hunter Goodman.
A Willi Castro single drove McCarthy home for the first run of the game. A second run was scored when Ezequiel Tovar hit an infield single again loading the bases. Adrian Houser hit Sterlin Thompson and a second run scored giving the Rockies an early 2-0 lead. San Francisco finally got out of the inning but it had been an awful start in this game for the Giants.
The second inning was another quiet inning for San Francisco. Matt Chapman doubled, but the one hit was all San Francisco could manage. Colorado went three and out and the Giants seemed to have a handle on the game going into the third inning.
The Giants had a hit in the third inning, a single from Eric Haase but other then hitting home runs, one hit per inning will not get the job done. Colorado threatened in the bottom of the third inning but San Francisco held on getting out of the inning with no damage. The Giants were yet to get up on the scoreboard.
The Giants continued to struggle at the plate going three and out in the fourth inning. The Rockies extended their lead in the bottom of the fourth inning scoring two more runs. Jake McCarthy homered with Edouard Julien on base; Colorado now with a 4-0 lead.
The Giants only had three hits through four innings while the Rockies had ten. The Giants were not only falling short at the plate there was also trouble on the mound. Adrian Houser was relieved after 3 2/3 innings. He had allowed eight hits and four earned runs and was relieved by Sam Hentges.
The top of the fifth inning was another one-hit inning for the Giants as they continued to wallow through the game. Not much was going San Francisco’s way. On the other hand the Rockies added another run to their tally in the fifth inning. Colorado had two singles in the inning and two more walks. Edouard Julien scored taking their lead to 5-0.
There was another pitching change for the Giants in the fifth inning. Brubaker relieved Hentges who had allowed two hits, one run and two walks in 1 1/3 innings of work. Brubaker dismissed the Rockies three and out to end the sixth. He had two strikeouts in the inning.
It had been a terrific game for the Rockies Ryan Feltner who pitched six full innings throwing only 63 pitches in what may have been one of his best games this season. He was relieved in the seventh inning by Brennan Bernardino. Feltner had allowed four hits, no runs and no walks.
The bottom of the seventh inning was more good times for the Colorado Rockies. Ryan Borucki relieved San Francisco’s Brubaker only to give up a home run to Kyle Karros and extend the Rockies lead to 6-0. Colorado was relentless scoring two more runs in the seventh pretty much breaking the game wide open leading 8-0 and working towards a shutout. Borucki had allowed four hits and three runs.
With one out in the top of the eighth inning, San Francisco at long last got up on the scoreboard when Drew Gilbert homered to right center with Bryce Eldridge on base. There would be no shutout for the Rockies but the bad news was that the Giants were three outs away from losing game two trailing 8-2.
San Francisco was able to score a third run in the ninth inning when Matt Chapman singled Jung Hoo Lee home. The final was 8-3 in favor of Colorado. The Rockies finished with 14 hits, the Giants had nine hits the majority of them in the later innings. The Giants just couldn’t get the job done from the start of the game.
Game notes: Friday night the Giants dropped a real heartbreaker in the first game of the series with the Rockies. Going into the ninth inning in Friday nights game San Francisco had a slim lead 4-3 but pushed that lead out when Rafael Devers tripled driving in Arraez.
Matt Chapman followed that up with a single that drove in Devers and the Giants took a 6-3 lead into the bottom of the ninth. They were two outs away from winning game one. The Rockies had other plans for the outcome of this game. Colorado tied up the game off a Hunter Goodman home run with two runners on base.
The Rockies finished off San Francisco with yet another home run off the bat of Ezequiel Tovar with Willi Castro on base for the walk-off win 8-6. The Giants offense was good enough finishing with 12 hits. It all came crashing down in the bottom of the ninth inning when Caleb Kilian allowed five hits, five runs in 2/3 of an inning. As the top of the ninth finished, the Giants were in a very good place.
The Giants had played a good game and the returning Jung Hoo Lee had a terrific game with four hits and two runs. When it was looking so good for San Francisco the game turned sideways with a most discouraging finish.
Game three in this series will get underway Sunday with first pitch scheduled for 12:10 PM. Robbie Ray will get the start for the Giants. He has a 3-6 win/loss record and a 4.60 ERA. The Rockies will send Tanner Gordon (0-0 ERA 5.84). San Francisco will be looking for a win Sunday in an effort to avoid another sweep after getting swept in their last series earlier this week against the Diamondbacks.
