Kyle Karros crushed a three-run, go-ahead home run in the eighth inning, rallying the Colorado Rockies to a 7-6 victory over the visiting San Francisco Giants on Sunday and taking the rubber game of a three-game set.
Four Rockies relievers combined for four innings of four-hit relief, allowing for the comeback after the Giants had gone ahead 6-4 in the sixth inning.
Giants’ relievers had thrown shutout ball in the fifth, sixth and seventh, but TJ Rumfield bounced a one-out double to left field in the eighth and San Francisco reliever Dylan Smith (0-1) hit Troy Johnston with a pitch, setting the stage for Karros’ heroics.
The homer was his seventh of the season and traveled an estimated 457 feet out to left-center field.
After the Rockies had built a pair of early two-run leads, the Giants grabbed the upper hand in the fifth when Casey Schmitt produced a 4-4 tie with his 17th home run and, two batters later, Rafael Devers launched his second homer of the day. Both were solo shots.
San Francisco’s Drew Gilbert matched his career-high with a third RBI in the sixth, creating the 6-4 advantage with a single to center that lasted until Karros’ homer in the eighth.
Aided by a run-scoring error on a pickoff attempt, the Rockies scored twice off Giants starter Tyler Mahle in the first inning. But it didn’t last long as Gilbert smacked his fourth homer of the season, a two-run shot, in the second.
Colorado took another two-run lead thanks to a Brett Sullivan RBI double in the second and a Johnston sacrifice fly in the third.
This time, the Giants rallied over two innings, with Devers hitting his first home of the day in the fourth before he teamed with Schmitt for homers in the fifth.
Victor Vodnik (3-3), who threw a scoreless eighth, was credited with the win. Jordan Romano, who stranded the potential tying run on third base in the ninth, recorded his fifth save.
Neither starting pitcher was effective or got a decision.
Mahle was pulled one out into the fifth inning, charged with four runs (three earned) on eight hits. He struck out five and did not walk a batter.
Rockies starter Tanner Gordon, who served up all four Giants home runs, allowed five total runs and six hits in five innings. He walked two and struck out seven.
Rumfield had three hits and scored twice for the Rockies, who have taken two of three over the Giants in each of their two series to date. Hunter Goodman added two singles in an 11-hit attack.
Gilbert finished 4-for-4 and Willy Adames scored twice for the Giants, who suffered a pair of 1-2 series losses in a trip to Arizona and Colorado.
