Rockies come back, get walk-off win in 10th

DENVER -- Veteran Rockies weathered a slow offensive start and some recent bullpen hiccups, knowing there would be nights like Monday -- when Chris Iannetta's bases-loaded ground-ball single in the 10th inning delivered a 6-5 victory over the Giants.
The wild Memorial Day game was delayed 55 minutes at the start by a hailstorm. But when everything had cleared, the Rockies went to bed in first in the National League West by 1 1/2 games over the D-backs.
It was fitting that Iannetta finished it on a grounder that crawled past pitcher Hunter Strickland and trickled under the glove of second baseman Kelby Tomlinson. Iannetta has a .220 batting average, but it also was his eighth walk-off hit -- his first since May 11, 2016, when he homered in the 11th for the Mariners in a 6-5 victory over the Rays.
"Everyone's making a big deal about our offense," Iannetta said. "We don't like the way that we're playing offensively, [but] we have a collection of really good hitters, and we know that. We're going to play to our potential and above our potential at times, and there are times when you play long enough that you're going to be underneath that."

Iannetta's hit ended a parade of solid at-bats -- some by hitters who were "underneath" what the Rockies would like.
• Nolan Arenado came to the plate 2-for-14 against Strickland (2-2) and drew a walk, then took second on a deep fly to center by Trevor Story -- who had a three-run homer in the first inning.

• Carlos González, who had lost some of his intimidation factor during his slow start, accepted an intentional walk after going 2-for-4 previously. The game came on the heels of Gonzalez going 4-for-4 with a homer in Sunday's 8-2 victory over the Reds.
• Ian Desmond, hitting .184, had two hits and two RBIs, including a key sacrifice fly. He loaded with a one-out single off Strickland, against whom he had been 0-for-6. Andrew McCutchen nearly made a sliding catch in right field.
"Just like I've been saying, we're winning games in all different kinds of ways," Desmond said.

Desmond, because of a team-high $22 million salary this year and his struggles, has been a target of fan discontent all season. But Desmond had the solid offensive game and made a key defensive play from first base in the top of the 10th to help Bryan Shaw (2-3), who himself is a high-paid vet -- three years, $27 million -- who has struggled recently.
Shaw had been scored upon in his previous three outings, but escaped after giving up Evan Longoria and Brandon Crawford singles to open the 10th. Desmond helped him, by fielding an Austin Jackson chopper and throwing out Crawford at third. Shaw extracted two more grounders.

"We continued to make those same pitches I made to those first two guys ... and we got some good plays by the defense behind me," Shaw said.
Shaw's escape came after Wade Davis walked two and hit a batter with two out in the ninth but worked Longoria into a soft liner.
"The games in San Francisco a couple weeks ago were hard-fought, and when you win them, you feel good," Rockies manager Bud Black said.

Black also lauded starting pitcher Chad Bettis for battling through six innings. However, Longoria's two-run double five batters in raised Bettis' first-inning ERA to 8.10 this season, and a four-hit, two-run sixth -- which included pinch-hitter Pablo Sandoval's go-ahead RBI single -- lifted his number in that inning to 10.79. He also has a 7.06 home ERA against 2.03 on the road.
But Bettis has a team win to feel good about while working on his pitch location.
"I wasn't as sharp as I could've been," Bettis said. "Some of those pitches could've been a little bit better located, especially in that first."

MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
Rookie lefty Harrison Musgrave, who had pitched well but not often in tight games previously, needed just 21 pitches to finish the seventh and eighth cleanly.
The recent struggles of lefty Chris Rusin -- at least one run against in six of his last seven appearances -- led to Musgrave's chance. Also, the Rockies couldn't go to highly effective Adam Ottavino, who went to the 10-day disabled list Monday with a left oblique strain.
"Good poise, not fazed by being here, great heartbeat, he has some weapons," Black said. "We liked him last Spring Training. He was very close to making our team.
"This guy is a little bit under the radar, but very effective. He's been a very solid Minor League pitcher. You look at his win-loss record, look at some of the internal numbers, you can't ignore that."
SOUND SMART
Charlie Blackmon was caught stealing in the seventh to end the Rockies' streak of 16 successful steal attempts. It's the second-longest such run in club history behind an 18-gamer (May 18-June 6, 2012).
HE SAID IT
"As long as you come out, you're making noise, we feed on that -- whether you're booing me or cheering me, I don't care, just make some sort of noise." -- Desmond, on how being a discontent target doesn't bother him

UP NEXT
Rockies lefty Kyle Freeland (4-5, 3.28 ERA) has a string of six quality starts. The increased use of the changeup to go with his fastball, slider-cutter and sinker has rounded out his plan of attack. Freeland will start Tuesday against Giants righty Jeff Samardzija (1-3, 6.23).