Posey's 2-HR day helps Giants rally past Rockies

May 28th, 2016

DENVER -- Buster Posey's second three-run homer of the game keyed a six-run eighth inning as the Giants won for the 14th time in their last 16 games, 10-5, over the Rockies at Coors Field on Saturday afternoon.
Posey, who homered in the first inning off Rockies starter Eddie Butler, flipped the game to the Giants in the eighth with his seventh homer of the season -- off Carlos Estevez, after Joe Panik and Matt Duffy had singled. Jarrett Parker added an RBI single and Gregor Blanco singled in two runs as the Rockies needed three pitchers to complete the inning.
The Giants' eight hits in the eighth were their most in any inning since they had eight in the top of the third on Aug. 17, 2012, at San Diego.

Estevez was pitching in his third straight game but manager Walt Weiss noted he had a light workload (30 pitches). Estevez had forced Posey to ground out in two of their previous encounters and was trying to set up a similar result Saturday.
Instead, the Rockies lost for the first time in the 20 games in which they led after seven innings.
"I tried to attack the strike zone," Estevez said. "I missed my first two sliders, then he got the fastball. That's it."

The rally came after the Rockies had taken a 5-4 lead in the seventh on Nolan Arenado's two-run double, followed by Carlos Gonzalez's seventh homer of the season. The Rockies had endured six strong innings from Giants starter Madison Bumgarner (one run, five hits, six strikeouts) before making their run.
"It's the ups and downs of Coors Field," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said.
"I like the way we came back; we just couldn't stop them," Weiss said.
MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
Fine fielding: San Francisco's infield added to its collection of timely double plays in the sixth inning, rescuing Bumgarner from a bases-loaded jam. With one out, shortstop Brandon Crawford backhanded Cristhian Adames' grounder as if were drawn by a magnet to his glove. Second baseman Panik appeared to delay releasing his throw ever so slightly but still had time to throw out Adames at first base.

CarGo's big blast: Gonzalez capped a four-run seventh for the Rockies with a two-run home run to center field off Josh Osich. He had three hits, including single in the fifth and ninth, extending his hit streak to six games, during which he has hit .480. Through the first 19 games of May, he was hitting .183.
"When you know, you know," Gonzalez said. "I've been playing the game since I was a little kid. When you hit the ball hard, and I've played in this field for a long time, so I know when the ball is going over the fence. I hit that ball pretty good and knew it as soon as I hit it."

Gearing up: It was a big day for Cory Gearrin, and not only because he earned the decision and stroked his first Major League hit with a single that loaded the bases for Blanco's hit. Gearrin has held opponents scoreless in 19 of 23 outings and has blanked them in eight games on the road. He also has not walked a right-handed batter since April 6, a span of 60 at-bats.

"We needed somebody to calm things down," Bochy said, referring to his use of five pitchers in the seventh inning. "He kind of saved us there."
De La Rosa in relief: After being removed from the rotation Wednesday, Jorge De La Rosa made his first relief appearance since July 12, 2009. He was very effective over two shutout innings, striking out one and surrendering two hits. This was a promising development for the Rockies, as the lefty previously had an 11.41 ERA over six starts.
"Part of the plan is just getting him in situations where it's an inning or two at a time to build up his confidence and build him back up," Weiss said. "He had the slow start. He missed some time [with a groin injury, although the time off was more to regain his form].
"That makes the most sense -- have some small successes before he goes back out there and tackles the game as a starter."
QUOTABLE
"He's just a good player and we play them a lot, so it seems to happen a lot against them." -- Weiss on Arenado's success against the Giants. Arenado went 2-for-5 with the two-run double, is hitting .395 in nine games against them this year and has 41 RBIs against them since the start of the 2015 season. It's the most RBIs any player has against any opponent in that time.
SOUND SMART WITH YOUR FRIENDS
Rockies reliever Chad Qualls made his 800th career appearance, tying Francisco Cordero for the 47th-most career appearances. Qualls pitched a scoreless ninth, surrendering a double to Brandon Belt and a single to Hunter Pence.
UPON FURTHER REVIEW
After Butler attempted to pick him off twice, Blanco stole second base, which the Rockies challenged in the fifth inning. The umpires overturned the call, ruling that Blanco failed to maintain contact with the base through shortstop Trevor Story's tag.

THERE'S MORE TO PITCHING ...
Butler rebounded from the rough first, when he gave up the first Posey homer after walking Panik and hitting Duffy on a sinker that slipped ("I said, 'This is going to hit him in the head,' and that's the way it felt," a relieved Butler said). But after Adames tripled and Dustin Garneau walked in the bottom of the fifth, Weiss removed Butler for pinch-hitter Daniel Descalso.
"We needed runs, and that's the downfall for me -- I've got to get better with the bat, get some more hits and be able to prove that I can handle it," said Butler, who relied on his curveball more than usual because he didn't have a feel for his two-seam fastball or slider.
WHAT'S NEXT
Giants:Johnny Cueto, who owns an 18 1/3 scoreless-inning streak against Colorado, will start Sunday's series finale that begins at 1:10 p.m. PT. Cueto has thrived at Coors Field, where he's 3-1 with a 2.61 ERA in five career starts. It has been a successful May for Cueto, who's 3-0 with a 2.11 ERA in five starts during the month.
Rockies: Lefty Chris Rusin will hope to erase a bad memory when he starts in the series finale against the Giants on Sunday at 2:10 p.m. MT. Last time Rusin started against the Giants, on May 5, the Rockies scored a club-record 13 runs in the top of the fifth en route to a 17-7 win. But Rusin couldn't get through the bottom of the inning and was charged with seven runs and 13 hits in 4 1/3 innings.
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