The San Francisco Giants will have a new title when they go for five in a row over the Colorado Rockies in a National League West duel Tuesday night.
The first-place San Francisco Giants.
The Giants improved to 15-8 with a 12-0 shellacking of the Rockies in the series opener Monday, winning for the seventh time in their last nine games.
When the Los Angeles Dodgers were beaten 5-3 by the Cincinnati Reds in 10 innings about an hour later, it moved the Giants into a tie with the defending World Series champions atop the NL West.
No doubt, Giants manager Gabe Kapler found himself watching the Reds-Dodgers game on television, as his team’s performance earlier in the evening shortened his postgame routine.
“It was nice to have a very well-pitched game, a crisp game on defense and then to score a bunch of runs,” he noted. “There’s not much to complain about tonight.
“I usually spend an hour or so after games picking things apart. But what’s there to pick apart? The guys did a great job.”
After having won tightly contested 3-1, 4-3 and 4-0 games at home over Colorado earlier in the season, the Giants put up a season-high run total on the same night they got shutout pitching from right-hander Anthony DeSclafani.
The first-year Giant allowed just three hits, which was one fewer than Buster Posey collected on a night when an earlier single, double and home run set the stage for a potential cycle in his final at-bat in the eighth inning.
Posey settled for another single, giving him four hits to go with three RBIs.
The Giants are scheduled to face Rockies right-hander Chi Chi Gonzalez (1-0, 3.00) in the rematch.
The 29-year-old pitched well in the earlier series with the Giants in San Francisco, allowing one run and four hits in five innings before leaving with a 3-1 lead.
The Giants rallied to win 4-3 against the Colorado bullpen.
Posey went 0-for-3 in the game, making him 0-for-4 with a walk and a strikeout in his career against Gonzalez, who has a 0-2 record and 4.62 ERA in six games (five starts) lifetime against the Giants.
San Francisco is scheduled to counter with right-hander Aaron Sanchez (1-1, 1.83), who is coming off five shutout innings in a 3-0 win over Miami earlier in the homestand.
The 28-year-old has gone 1-1 in his career against the Rockies with a 3.21 ERA in two starts. He’s never allowed an extra-base hit in 20 career plate appearances against current members of the Colorado team.
The Rockies endured a long day Monday, one that began with news that general manager Jeff Bridich had stepped down.
Colorado manager Bud Black noted he had spoken with Bridich just a day earlier and came away with the impression that wholesale changes were not in the works.
“Jeff indicated that the Rockies and those of us downstairs in uniform are in a good place,” Black reported. “Basically he felt it was time.”
The Rockies, who are in last place in the NL West at 8-14, flew to San Francisco off a 5-3 homestand that featured wins in four of the last five games.