DENVER -- After he finished his daily session with the media on Tuesday afternoon, Bruce Bochy sat against the wall in the dugout and spent a silent moment looking out at the grass at Coors Field.
"It's amazing how big the outfield here is," Bochy finally said.
The manager admitted that sometimes he stands on the top step, looks out at the alleys that go 375 feet and 390, and the center field wall 415 feet away, and marvels at how much space there is to cover.
In down times, the Giants haven't been able to do it. Those alleys paved the way for one Rockies win after another the previous two seasons as the Giants' aging outfield looked overwhelmed. But this is a different time for Giants outfielders, defensively and at the plate.
Kevin Pillar had his second consecutive brilliant defensive effort in center and the two fellow newcomers flanking him, Alex Dickerson and Mike Yastrzemski, paced a lineup that made up for Will Smith's blown save and ran away from the Rockies in the 10th for an 8-4 win, the 11th in 13 games.
Dickerson had a career-high four hits to raise his average to .342. Yastrzemski had three hits and a big homer in the ninth. But it was Pillar who made the biggest contributions. He has a half-dozen diving catches in this series, repeatedly halting Rockies rallies. Pillar made three tremendous plays in center on Tuesday night alone.
Kevin Pillar doing the whole Superman thing. Again. pic.twitter.com/X4PCGEosTu— Alex Pavlovic (@PavlovicNBCS) July 17, 2019
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"It's like nothing I've ever seen," Dickerson said. "Every ball, if there's even a question, he's diving and he's got it. It's like nothing I've ever seen."
Pillar backed Drew Pomeranz's strong effort, and once again the lineup came through. Dickerson and Yastrzemski were in the middle of a two-run rally in the second and Dickerson's single gave the Giants an insurance run in the eighth. Yastrzemski added another with a homer in the ninth, but Smith couldn't hold on.
The All-Star closer allowed just eight runs in the first half but gave up three in the ninth inning, with Trevor Story and Ian Desmond going deep. But the Giants stormed right back for four in the 10th.
"A lot of character was shown there with what happened in the ninth," Bochy said. "Smitty has been so good but it can happen fast in this ballpark. The boys just kept battling. That's what you've got to do."
Dickerson made it all sound so easy as he went over the rally, which started with walks from Buster Posey and Pablo Sandoval and took off with three straight singles from Dickerson, Brandon Crawford and Yastrzemski.
"We weren't going to shy away from it," Dickerson said. "We still had that game under control. I think you saw it, that's as focused an inning as you can have."
