SAN FRANCISCO -- Giants manager Tony Vitello provided a blunt assessment of his club’s performance following an ugly 13-7 loss to the Rockies in Sunday afternoon’s series finale at Oracle Park.
“It was sloppy,” Vitello said. “It had more of the feel of a junior college game as opposed to a big league game with how some of the things transpired. And I was a JUCO guy, so I’m not disrespecting JUCOs.”
The Giants issued 10 walks, eight of which came around to score, and struggled to play clean baseball overall, an unacceptable result that prompted Vitello to call a team meeting following the game.
“People paid money to sit through that,” Vitello said. “[Infield coach Ron Washington] had to sit through that. Might as well sit through a meeting. I don’t know that anything genius was said. There’s no point in putting on a tirade. It is about today. It’s not about any one person or any one loss. But it’s more about a theme. Clean baseball, it’s a touchy subject because that’s hard to do. It’s inevitable [that] some of the things that pop up in a game go unnoticed when you win or you get out of a jam. But the one thing that’s unavoidable, is usually the team that plays catch is the better team that day.”
The game began on a promising note, with Rafael Devers briefly putting the Giants ahead with a three-run homer that landed in McCovey Cove in the bottom of the second inning. But the vibes quickly shifted during a disastrous sixth inning, when the Rockies capitalized on a series of mistakes to score four runs and pull away for good.
Left-hander Sam Hentges came out for the sixth with the Giants clinging to a 7-6 lead, but he issued a pair of walks before he was pulled for right-hander JT Brubaker, who allowed the tying run to score on a wild pitch.
The changeup in the dirt didn’t roll far from catcher Drew Cavanaugh, but the 24-year-old rookie lost track of the ball when it scooted a few inches behind home plate. That created an opening for Rockies outfielder Zac Veen to take off from third and slide in safely directly in front of Cavanaugh.
“It’s obviously not what you want,” Cavanaugh said. “He had a good read on the ball in the dirt. He had a good jump, but I’ve got to get the ball and do everything I can to help the team win.”
“The way I would see it is he kind of gave us a Christmas present, and we didn’t unwrap it,” Vitello said of Veen’s mad dash for home. “He got there in a hurry, so it would have been interesting to see how the day goes if we tag a guy out there.”
The self-inflicted damage then continued for Brubaker, who walked the next two batters he faced to load the bases before hitting Cole Carrigg with an 0-2 pitch. Mickey Moniak followed with a single to left field that was misplayed by Turner Hill, which plated another two runs and extended Colorado’s lead to 10-7.
The Rockies piled on behind a three-run homer from Brett Sullivan in the seventh, helping them to take two of three from the Giants and win the season series by a 7-6 margin. It marked the first time San Francisco has dropped a season series to Colorado since 2020 (4-6).
Right-hander Blade Tidwell was charged with the loss on Sunday after giving up six runs on three hits and five walks over 4 1/3 innings, though Vitello revealed that the rookie starter was dealing with some back tightness.
“I don’t think it had any effect on the performance,” Tidwell said. “It was just something that came up right before the game. I thought I threw the ball pretty [crappy]. A lot of walks. Those kill you. They did a good job with their plan, and I didn’t execute mine.”
After wrapping up a 3-6 homestand against the Tigers, Astros and Rockies, the Giants will now hit the road for a six-game East Coast swing through Cleveland and Boston. The trip should feature plenty of intriguing subplots, as the Giants will face off against former catcher Patrick Bailey at Progressive Field and then see Devers return to Fenway Park for the first time since he was traded away by the Red Sox last summer.