© Russell Lansford-USA TODAY Sports
This was not Andrew Suarez’s loss— it was the lineup’s.
The Giants’ rookie starting pitcher allowed one run and five hits through seven innings on the road. He missed badly on one pitch throughout the evening, resulting in a Chris Iannetta 453-foot homer that barely avoided the left field pole to give the Colorado Rockies the 1-0 lead they would not surrender, putting the Giants on the wrong end of a series sweep three days after they found the right side of one.
Suarez pitched very well in San Francisco’s 1-0 loss, just like he did for the entirety of June, when he compiled a 2-0 record with a 2.62 ERA in his second full-time month as a starting MLB pitcher. This was not his loss.
The Giants mustered three hits (all singles), two walks, and only moved past first base once. With two outs in the top of the ninth inning, Andrew McCutchen hit a single. Buster Posey followed with a walk, giving the Giants a runner in scoring position for the first time all evening. But Brandon Crawford did not cash in, lining out to right field, solidifying the loss.
They entered this series scalding off 10 wins in 12 games, including a convincing three-game sweep over the NL-West leading Arizona Diamondbacks before entering Denver. The Giants averaged eight runs and 14 hits in the final two games of their previous series, showing signs of a lineup that seemed to hit its stride.
That success did not carry into the altitude. The Giants managed three combined runs and 14 hits altogether during three games as they were swept out of Denver.
San Francisco’s road woes had hurt the Giants all year, but it seemed a sweep over the division leaders would have steered them in the right direction. But the lineup went dormant this week. On Wednesday, Rockies starting pitcher Tyler Anderson allowed only two hits and fanned nine over eight scoreless innings.
The only scoring of the day came with one out in the bottom of the seventh inning. Ian Desmond started the inning by sending a Suarez slider to the warning track, but Giants left fielder Austin Slater retreated to snag it. Suarez was not as fortunate during the next at-bat. Iannetta connected on a slider that flew alongside the left field pole.
The Giants will cap the season’s first half with 10 straight games at AT&T Park, an important stretch for both division purposes and acclimating Johnny Cueto and Jeff Samardzija, the team’s No. 2 and 3 starting pitchers, back into the fold. Cueto will start Thursday’s matchup with the St. Louis Cardinals. Samardzija will start Saturday.