DENVER _ Moral victories are hard to come by in the world of sports, but as the Giants proved on their eight-game road trip, actual victories are even tougher to secure.
Yet on the final day of a long month that featured stops in six different road cities, the Giants will take a happy flight home after defeating the Rockies 7-4 and receiving positive updates regarding several key players.
Before taking down Colorado, manager Bruce Bochy announced the Giants will likely activate second baseman Joe Panik, closer Mark Melancon and left fielder Hunter Pence at the start of Friday's homestand. That was enough to put the skipper in a good mood, but a win lifted his spirits a little more.
Though the Giants limped through the month with an injury-riddled starting staff and a porous defense, they achieved an important feat with Wednesday's victory. By salvaging the final game of their three-city trip, the Giants finished five games under .500 for the month of May while actually narrowing their gap in the standings.
Despite ending April 5.5 games behind Arizona, a collapse by the Diamondbacks and a win in the series finale against Colorado leaves the Giants four games out in the National League West heading into June.
After blasting a pair of home runs in Tuesday's loss, third baseman Evan Longoria pushed the Giants ahead for good in the fifth with a go-ahead triple into the right-center-field alleyway. Longoria paced the club's offense in the series, tallying a pair of doubles on Monday and driving in six runs over a three-game set.
The hitter who paced the offense throughout the month was Brandon Crawford, and he followed Longoria's triple with an RBI single to record his 42nd hit in May.
The fifth-inning rally rewarded starter Derek Holland, who suffered through a brutal first inning before rebounding with four innings of quality work that gave his club a chance to win.
Holland became the fourth straight Giants starter to allow multiple first-inning runs, as the left-hander surrendered a pair of singles to open the bottom of the first before serving up a 447-foot moonshot to Rockies third baseman Nolan Arenado.
It was Arenado's 22nd career home run in 91 games against the Giants, and further proof that no pitcher donning the orange and black has devised a repeatable plan for getting him out.
The Giants rallied for a pair of runs in the second as Crawford scored on a wild pitch and Mac Williamson raced home on a Pablo Sandoval single, but Colorado added to its lead with a run in the bottom of the frame.
While Holland battled early trouble, so did Rockies starter Jon Gray as erratic command proved to be the right-hander's downfall. With the bases loaded and one out in the fourth, Gray walked Gorkys Hernandez and Buster Posey back-to-back to even the score 4-4.
Holland allowed a combined three baserunners over his final two innings of work, but stranded a pair in the bottom of the fifth thanks to a tremendous sliding catch from Hernandez in center field.
Though he logged just two quality starts in six May outings, Holland was the most consistent starter on a Giants staff that is eagerly awaiting Madison Bumgarner's scheduled return on Tuesday. Because the Giants placed Jeff Samardzija on the disabled list and moved Ty Blach to the bullpen Wednesday, Holland's spot in the rotation is as solid as any member of the Giants staff.
