SAN FRANCISCO _ With another opportunity to take a step toward securing a playoff berth, the San Francisco Giants sent their Opening Day starter Johnny Cueto to the mound against a Colorado Rockies team that's fallen out of contention.
At a point in the season when the Giants needed Cueto to pitch like the ace, he turned in one of the worst starts of his five-year tenure in San Francisco.
Cueto gave up seven earned runs _ the most he's allowed as a Giant _ in 4 1/3 innings and failed to keep his club in the game in a 7-2 defeat to the Rockies that dropped San Francisco (26-27) a game below .500 with seven left to play.
One loss won't crush the Giants' postseason chances, but the defeat occurred on a night when Gabe Kapler's team could have moved percentage points ahead of the Philadelphia Phillies for the second wild card spot. The Giants instead fell to 26-27 and remain tied with the Milwaukee Brewers, who are also chasing the 28-27 Cincinnati Reds and 27-27 Phillies in the wild card standings.
Cueto hadn't pitched in eight days as his scheduled start was pushed back due to right hip discomfort, but the additional rest didn't appear to do the veteran any favors. He gave up four consecutive hits in the top of the first as the Giants fell behind 2-0 and allowed at least one run in four of the five innings he pitched in against Colorado.
On another night when the Giants were hopeful their starting pitcher could ease the job of an overworked bullpen, Cueto needed 97 pitches to record just 13 outs and turned the game over to the bullpen with the Giants trailing 6-0.
The right-hander had no feel for his best pitch, his changeup, and only recorded one swing and miss with that offering against the Rockies lineup. After coming out of Monday's game in the top of the fifth, Cueto tossed a water bottle at the dugout bench and paced around in frustration.
Regardless of whether he makes one more start during the regular season or not, Cueto will almost assuredly finish with the highest earned run average of his career as his ERA ballooned to 5.53 following Monday's outing. There's hope from both Cueto and the Giants' organization that his performance will improve as he distances himself from his 2018 Tommy John surgery, but it's unlikely the club will be able to count on him at the top of their rotation if it hopes to compete for a playoff berth next year.
Neither the Giants nor the Rockies were able to count on their best offensive player in the series opener as San Francisco outfielder Mike Yastrzemski missed his fourth consecutive game with a right calf strain while Colorado third baseman Nolan Arenado was placed on the 10-day injured list with shoulder issues on Monday.
Arenado has haunted the Giants for years and his 31 home runs against the team are the most by any active major leaguer, but his replacement, Ryan McMahon, didn't miss a beat. McMahon yanked a RBI double down the right field line in the first, walked in his next two plate appearances and made a sensational defensive play fielding a slow roller with his bare hand and firing a strike to first base to prevent Darin Ruf from picking up a RBI in the bottom of the fifth.
The Giants' offense didn't mount much of a comeback against Colorado's bullpen, but the team did have one positive development as left fielder Alex Dickerson returned from the paternity list following the birth of his son Levi and fell a triple shy of the cycle. Dickerson moved into a tie for the team lead with his ninth home run of the season on Monday and also crushed a double off the right field wall in the loss.
