DENVER -- The Giants’ bats finally erupted at Coors Field in Sunday’s series finale, scoring 19 runs on 25 hits, including a seven-run fifth capped by a Willy Adames grand slam. The Giants tallied more runs in that single frame than the Rockies did all day, as San Francisco dodged the sweep and held onto fourth place in the NL West with the 19-6 win.
The game offered a glimpse into the future, with Bryce Eldridge’s 4-for-6 day and his tape-measure 453-foot homer to dead center -- the longest Giants homer of the season -- pairing with Jonah Cox’s big league debut, his first run, and his first hit all coming in the eighth and ninth innings of a game that didn’t quit.
“It was refreshing,” manager Tony Vitello said of the offensive explosion. “I don't know whether it's washing away the thoughts from the previous two days or cleansing yourself with positive thoughts. Seeing Jonah and Bryce doing what they did was ultra exciting.”
The fifth inning featured an intentional walk, two singles, three doubles, a triple and the slam, with all but the last single coming around to score.
The slam was Adames’ sixth of his career and the Giants’ fourth of the season. All four Giants slams this year have come in May, the most in a month in franchise history since the 1970 club hit four in April.
Other offensive highlights included Jung Hoo Lee’s five-hit game -- his second four-hit game of the weekend -- and a 4-for-6 day with three doubles for Rafael Devers.
“It's who he is,” Vitello said of Lee, who went 11-for-15 on the weekend and raised his average from .268 to .304. “I would think he leads our team at most hard-contact outs at people. He's a very gifted hitter.”
The starting pitching remained paradoxical, posting their third consecutive game with the starter failing to complete five innings. Robbie Ray went a full four innings, allowing three runs (one earned) on five hits and two walks while striking out six. He threw 96 pitches in his short time on the hill and left with an 11-3 lead.
“The stuff was better than it's been all year,” Ray said. “I felt like the fastball was coming out good, offspeed was good. Not ideal, but definitely some positives to take away from it.”
The Giants added three runs in the eighth inning when Cox, a native of Louisville, Colo., pinch-ran for Casey Schmitt with Daniel Susac on second. Devers followed with a single to center, and both runners scored on the play, Susac on a throwing error by center fielder Jake McCarthy and Cox -- who nearly caught and passed Susac between second and third -- scoring on a throwing error from Juan Mejia.
“The job there is to try and get a guy an RBI,” Cox said. “It was a great swing, and I was trying my best to run fast.”
Cox came up to bat in the ninth and laced a double down the right-field line -- off Rockies backup catcher Brett Sullivan -- for his first big league hit in his first at-bat.
“I like the glimpse of what a team can do,” Vitello said. “We're not going to expect to score 15-plus every game that we play, but the Jonah example is a great example of ‘the better the team does, the better everybody else does.’ It opened up the door for him to go in the game.”
The win was marred by an injury to reliever Joel Peguero, who left in the bottom of the eighth after straining his left hamstring fielding a ground ball between the mound and first base.
“It’s the same hamstring he had issues with before,” Vitello said. “Our immediate thought in our little circle there in the dugout was, ‘What move do we need to make that's a positive to end the game?’ It was certainly a big negative on Peggy's part, but we kind of knew right away when the trainer went out and helped him off.”
The win ended San Francisco’s five-game losing streak -- and its 10-game losing streak to National League West teams.
“We all just came out a little bit angry about how this series has gone, and obviously, how the season has gone for us,” Eldridge said. “We were definitely due to hit some balls hard and find some holes in the outfield, and it’s definitely very promising to see what we were all capable of doing today.”