DENVER _ Yes, it absolutely can get worse for the San Francisco Giants in 2017.
Mere moments after Eduardo Nunez sustained a left hamstring injury on his 30th birthday, Buster Posey hurt himself in the most improbable way in a 10-9 loss to the Colorado Rockies: while hitting a home run.
Posey's two-run shot in the seventh inning Thursday night cut the Giants' deficit to 9-3 at Coors Field, leaving him a triple short of the cycle. But he limped badly down the dugout steps in front of stunned teammates and coaches. The Giants later announced that he had a sore ankle. It was unclear whether Posey had tweaked something on his swing, or while rounding the bases.
Earlier in the inning, Nunez winced upon hitting the bag while beating out an infield single, and then used an extra 90 feet to slow to a walk. He gestured for a trainer and exited the game for a pinch runner.
If that wasn't painful enough, the Giants came back from a 9-1 deficit and handed Greg Holland his first blown save of the season only to lose in the bottom of the ninth on Raimel Tapia's flared single off Hunter Strickland.
With Nunez and Posey out, and Aaron Hill and Kelby Tomlinson already used as pinch hitters, Giants manager Bruce Bochy had to move left fielder Austin Slater to third base _ a position that the rookie has never played in his professional career. And not one but two starting pitchers made pinch hitting appearances: Ty Blach, who singled, and Jeff Samardzija, who batted in the ninth.
The NL West-leading Rockies boat raced Matt Moore for eight runs in three innings, Hunter Pence misjudged a ball in right field and Posey committed a pair of errors in a game for just the second time in his career as the Giants looked every bit like a team that stands 16 { games out in mid-June.
It's the largest deficit the Giants have faced prior to the All-Star break since 1985, when a 100-loss team featuring Mike Krukow and Duane Kuiper also stood 16 { games back.
Say this, though: on a day when Bay Area sports fans were looking for fresh sports programming after the Golden State Warriors' victory parade, the Giants did not play a dull nine innings.
Brandon Crawford hit a three-run home run in the eighth that brought them to the brink of one of their best comebacks in franchise history, and then the Giants tied it in the ninth with a run against Holland, who had been 23 for 23 in save chances.
Unbelievably, Crawford's shot was the first three-run homer by a Giant this season. They entered the game with 236 at-bats in which two runners were on base, without a long ball.
Slater also had a four-hit night from the No. 8 spot in the lineup, boosting his average to .405, and his single off Holland started the tying rally in the ninth. Slater went to third on Denard Span's one-out single and scored on a sacrifice fly by Gorkys Hernandez.
Span advanced on a wild pitch, stole third base, and nearly scored the go-ahead run when a pitch to Samardzija squirted away from catcher Tom Murphy. But Holland applied the tag in a bang-bang play and replay officials could not determine conclusive evidence to overturn the out call on the field.
But in the end, the Giants' sinkhole in the NL West only opened a bit wider _ and left them with plenty of roster conundrums.
If only the Giants could slink out of Coors Field and head straight to Atlanta. But no, they must play three more games in the warmth and low humidity here, when baseballs might as well have dimples.
They'll have to do it with a short bench and a short bullpen, too. Although Strickland's appeal process of his six-game suspension continues to drag out with no explanation, the Giants expect to lose him at some point very soon without the ability to replace him. Then they had to use a whole lot of relief after the Rockies twice batted around against Moore in his three innings.
Roster moves almost certainly are afoot. The Giants' Triple-A club in Sacramento scratched Joan Gregorio, a right-hander who is having a fine season, moments before their first pitch. Gregorio already is on the 40-man roster.
Prior to the game, prominent members of the Giants lineup came to the defense of Hensley "Bam Bam" Meulens, saying that the club's hitting coach should not take the fall for the major leagues' least productive offense.
Now then. What about the pitching and defense?
Presumably, the blame stays on the field there, too _ and there was plenty to assign.
There was misfortune, too. Moore had a 12.34 ERA in three previous starts at Coors Field, and so there was no mistaking the omen when Charlie Blackmon led off the first inning with a nubber and ended up on second base when Posey tried an unsuccessful Skee-ball toss to first.
The first five Rockies hit safely against Moore, with none of the contact especially hard, in a three-run inning. The Rockies scored four more in a second inning that began to unravel with an inexcusable leadoff walk to Blackmon and Pence's misplay in right field. DJ LeMahieu jogged out of the box, so sure he had hit a can of corn, but the ball was carrying and Pence didn't drift back quickly enough as the ball fell for a single. Nolan Arenado followed by pounding a two-run double.
Posey also threw a ball into center field _ a rare, ill-advised decision from the Gold Glove catcher as he tried to nab Tapia, who was advancing on a wild pitch.
It was just the second two-error game in Posey's career, and his first since April 8, 2012. He committed a total of three behind the plate all last season.
Meanwhile, the offense was left to lament 12 runners left on base.
