The Giants arrived at Coors Field this week with a chance to extend their lead in the National League West and build a cushion in the standings before their schedule becomes increasingly difficult.
They left Denver having lost a pair of winnable games that they led against a last-place Rockies team due to marathon six-run innings that spun out of control.
After blowing a four-run lead in the seventh and final inning in Game 2 of Tuesday’s doubleheader, the Giants lost 6-5 in Wednesday’s matinee as starter Logan Webb and reliever Matt Wisler failed to contain Colorado in a crushing fourth inning.
A Giants team that’s missing the top three hitters from its batting order — Tommy La Stella, Mike Yastrzemski and Donovan Solano — due to injuries also had its most productive offensive player and team home run leader, Buster Posey, exit the game in the bottom of the seventh inning.
The Giants didn’t announce why Posey left the series finale early, but replacing him with backup Curt Casali in the late innings of a close game was obviously not part of the game plan entering the day.
San Francisco rallied to score a run and bring the potential tying run to third base in the ninth against Rockies closer Daniel Bard, but the Giants were unable to capitalize in an inning in which Posey’s bat could have proven valuable.
For the first three innings of Wednesday’s game at Coors Field, Webb was as dominant as he’s been all season as the right-hander didn’t allow a baserunner and gave the Giants every indication he was prepared to save the bullpen.
In a 38-pitch fourth inning, the Rockies got Webb into the stretch and he looked like a completely different pitcher. Six of the eight hitters Webb faced reached base including second baseman Alan Trejo, the No. 8 hitter in the Colorado order who walked on four largely noncompetitive pitches with the bases loaded.
Kapler pulled Webb from the game before he could face Rockies starter Jon Gray, but the damage Gray did with an RBI single against Wisler was charged to Webb, whose ERA ballooned to 5.34 following his brief outing.
Wisler’s inability to retire the Rockies pitcher proved to be the difference in the game as it allowed leadoff man Raimel Tapia to send in two more Colorado runs with two outs in the fourth.
With veteran Johnny Cueto expected to rejoin the rotation on Sunday, Wednesday’s outing was likely the last for Webb as a starter for a while as he was the pitcher who was initially sent to the bullpen when Alex Wood was reinstated from the injured list in mid-April.
Webb’s stint as a reliever only lasted one outing as the Giants needed him to replace Cueto, but after giving up six earned runs against the Rockies, the 24-year-old appears to be the most likely candidate to move to a bullpen that clearly needs more reliable right-handed options.
Brandon Crawford homered for the second straight day to give the Giants a 2-0 first-inning lead against Gray and Darin Ruf went the opposite way for a two-run seventh-inning homer, but Gabe Kapler’s club didn’t string enough hits together on Wednesday for the type of big inning that so often powers a team to victory at a hitter-friendly ballpark such as Coors Field.
