Giants' offense shows resilience in loss

SAN FRANCISCO -- The San Francisco Giants mounted a furious ninth-inning rally Friday night at AT&T Park, but ultimately fell to the Colorado Rockies, 8-6.

With the Giants trailing by two, third baseman Matt Duffy stepped to the plate with runners on first and second with one out and lined a ball down the right-field line that landed just wide of the white paint.

Giants manager Bruce Bochy requested the umpire crew take another look at the replay (he had already used his challenge), and after a brief review, the call on the field was confirmed.

"It would have been nice to get that break," Bochy said. "They fought hard to get the winning run up there. We had the right guys up and that's all you can ask."

Had the ball dropped less than a foot to the left, Duffy would have been standing on second base as the Giants' potential winning run. Instead, the Giants lost for the 11th time in their last 14 games at AT&T Park.

"If that ball hits the line, it may be a tie ballgame with the winning run in scoring position with the best hitter in the league coming up," starter Tim Hudson said, referring to cleanup batter Buster Posey.

While many of the team's losses at home this month have come from an offense that disappears at times, Friday night was a different story. In fact, it was much like Thursday's win against the Padres, except the Giants came out on the losing end.

When San Diego put up a crooked number Thursday, San Francisco answered with one of its own. Friday against the Rockies, the Giants did what they had done the night before.

After Nolan Arenado blasted a three-run homer off Hudson in the top of the sixth inning to give the Rockies a two-run cushion, the Giants strung together four straight singles in the bottom half to tie the score.

Video: COL@SF: Crawford singles in Posey to tie the game

"It felt like we had some good momentum going there," catcher Andrew Susac said.

In the ninth inning, Carlos Gonzalez tripled and scored on a wild pitch and Arenado followed with his second homer of the night. But the Giants, down five with only three outs left, plated three runs in the frame and nearly completed the comeback.

"It was a gutsy effort at the end," Susac said. "We're pretty good, I feel like, at never giving in."