DENVER -- Giants rookie Bryce Eldridge made quite the bang on the Fourth of July.
The 21-year-old slugger hammered a 106.8 mph, 458-foot solo blast in the top of the third inning to help power the Giants’ 6-4 win over the Rockies on Saturday night at Coors Field.
Eldridge’s home run was the longest by a Giants hitter this year, surpassing his own 453-foot bomb on May 31, which also came here in the Mile High City. Eldridge’s latest moonshot was particularly impressive considering that it came on a 76 mph changeup from Rockies left-hander Sean Sullivan and landed in the upper deck in right-center field, extending the Giants’ lead to 6-3.
Eldridge entered Saturday only 8-for-48 (.167) over his last 13 games, but he got back on track by going 2-for-4 with a pair of RBIs on Saturday. He also delivered a two-out RBI double to cap the Giants’ four-run rally against Sullivan in the first inning, providing some early run support for left-hander Robbie Ray, who earned the win after holding the Rockies to three runs over six innings.
Ray took the mound with a 4-0 lead in the bottom of the first, though he allowed Colorado to pull within one on Cole Carrigg’s three-run homer to left field. Still, the 34-year-old veteran managed to put up zeros the rest of the way, improving to 5-0 with a 1.85 ERA over his last six starts.
Newly-minted All-Star Luis Arraez extended the Giants’ lead to 5-3 with an RBI single in the second before Eldridge tacked on another insurance run with his seventh home run of the year in the third.
Left-hander Sam Hentges and right-hander Dylan Smith combined to work two scoreless innings behind Ray to turn a three-run lead over to closer Caleb Kilian in the bottom of the ninth. Kilian surrendered a two-out RBI single to TJ Rumfield, but struck out Troy Johnston swinging to end the game and convert his eighth save of the year.