DENVER _ Coors Field in Colorado is a reliever's theme park, a fantasy land of roller coaster rides where ERAs are destined to rise and late-game lead changes are certain to rock the core of a bullpen back and forth.
The final outs of a game will leave managers feeling like they've endured the type of motion sickness more commonly associated with spinning tea cups.
Bruce Bochy came to know the feeling all too well during Monday's 6-5 walk-off loss against the Rockies.
The Giants stomachs twisted when Rockies closer Wade Davis loaded the bases and escaped a jam in the ninth, and turned over when David Dahl stole second base off of Tony Watson in the ninth. They flipped when Austin Jackson failed to lay a bunt down in the 10th and flopped one final time when Hunter Strickland issued a leadoff walk to Nolan Arenado in the ninth.
By the time Chris Ianetta delivered a walk-off single in the 10th inning, a day at the park left the Giants feeling ill.
After Reyes Moronta, Will Smith and Sam Dyson combined for two innings of scoreless work, Tony Watson entered in the eighth and failed to protect a one-run lead. An Ian Desmond sacrifice fly left the game all square heading to the ninth, when an up-and-down adventure was ready to reach its climax.
Twenty-four hours after earning his first career start at second base, infielder Pablo Sandoval appeared in a different role Monday as the Giants called on Sandoval to pinch hit with two on and two out in the top of the sixth.
Though Sandoval regards pinch hitting as one of the most difficult assignments a player encounters, he made the job look easy with a poke through the opposite side of the infield that plated shortstop Brandon Crawford to give the Giants a 5-4 lead.
Sandoval's job responsibilities have multiplied exponentially during his second stint with the Giants, as he even gave bench coach Hensley Meulens the night off and brought out the lineup card to the umpires before Monday's game.
The two-out pinch hit single came four hitters after Evan Longoria launched his second RBI double of the contest to tie the game at 4. After posting just one multi-RBI game in the month of May, Longoria recorded his second three-RBI day as a member of the Giants.
For the second straight day, the Giants took a multi-run lead in the first inning as Longoria pounded a two-run double into the left center field gap. Longoria's first two-bagger of the night rolled deep enough to score Buster Posey from first base, who was back in the lineup after missing the past two games with right hip soreness.
But just as Ty Blach did on Sunday, starter Andrew Suarez squandered the advantage and served up a hanging breaking ball to Rockies cleanup hitter Trevor Story. With two on and one out in the bottom of the first, Story unloaded on a 409-foot three-run shot to push the Rockies out in front 3-2.
The Giants struggled to find an offensive flow during the first five games of their three-city road trip, as they were outscored 33-13 on the trip entering Monday's contest. The lineup's lone constant force has established himself at the top of the order, and once again, center fielder Gorkys Hernandez proved his value against the Rockies.
Hernandez opened the third inning by yanking his sixth home run of the year to left field, knotting the score at 3-3 and continuing a torrid run at the plate. After not homering in 348 plate appearances a season ago, Hernandez's solo shot Monday marked his fifth home run in his last 46 at-bats.
Despite allowing the home run to Story, Suarez didn't allow an earned run over the next four innings and only allowed one unearned run to score after an error by third baseman Evan Longoria in the bottom of the third.
By retiring the final eight hitters he faced, including six via strikeouts, Suarez may have inspired enough confidence in the Giants' brass to earn another start.
With Madison Bumgarner potentially returning to the Giants rotation Friday at AT&T Park, the club will likely remove Suarez or struggling Blach from the starting staff. Depending on how greatly their staff is taxed over the next two days, the Giants may also offer rookie Dereck Rodriguez a chance to start, which would likely mean both Blach and Suarez could skip their next scheduled outings.
Rodriguez was summoned from Triple-A Sacramento on Monday to provide coverage for Suarez in the event he suffered through a short outing, but Bochy didn't need to use the rookie right-hander. He'll stick in the bullpen for the remainder of the series and could start a game over the weekend against Philadelphia.
