What we learned as Giants rally in ninth, sweep Rockies originally appeared on NBC Sports Bayarea
It took the Giants nine innings on Wednesday, but they finally remembered they were playing at Coors Field.
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LaMonte Wade's two-run single in the ninth inning was the highlight of a four-run rally that turned a one-run deficit into a 7-4 win. The Giants got an impressive sweep at Coors Field, where the Colorado Rockies have essentially played like a playoff team this season, at least until this week. The Giants became the first team to sweep the Rockies at Coors this year.
It was a quiet offensive day -- all of the early runs came on Brandon Crawford's three-run shot -- until the ninth. Representing the tying run, Buster Posey pinch-hit and drew a leadoff four-pitch walk. Thairo Estrada hit a grounder to third that Ryan McMahon missed by inches, and Brandon Belt hit a grounder to second that was stopped by a diving Brendan Rodgers, who couldn't get a throw off.
With the bases loaded, Late-Game LaMonte dropped a go-ahead single into shallow right-center. Evan Longoria broke the game open with two outs, bringing the remaining runners home with a double.
The game finally brought an end to the longest stretch of continuous action this season for the Giants. They played 16 games in 16 days and went 10-6, keeping their lead in the NL West.
One Away
Crawford had gone nearly a month without homering, but he hit a Coors special in the sixth, lofting a high fly ball to left that kept carrying until it smacked off the first row of seats. The game-tying blast was his 20th of the year, one away from his career-high set in 2015. This is just the second time Crawford has hit at least 20 homers.
Crawford also has reached 80 RBI for the third time, and he's four away from tying his career-high, set in 2015 and tied the next year. The homer was obviously huge from a team perspective, but it helped get Crawford back on the right track in an individual race, too.
He was losing touch with the lead pack in the MVP race but has had a very strong stretch offensively against the Dodgers and Rockies. Crawford entered with eight hits over his previous four games.
Can't Crack Coors
Kevin Gausman and Logan Webb gave the Giants strong starts to open this series and it looked like DeSclafani might surpass them, but after four shutout innings, he didn't make it out of the fifth.
A double and three singles knocked him out of the game and helped the Rockies build a short-lived lead. The killer was a single by Gray, which came right after No. 8 hitter Garrett Sampson had inexplicably watched a two-strike fastball go by.
DeSclafani was charged with three earned in 4 1/3 innings, but his stuff was sharp, a good sign after he turned things around in his previous start against the Dodgers.
Golden Gloves
One of the biggest plays of the game was a double that ticked off LaMonte Wade Jr.'s glove as he tried to make what would have been a very impressive catch at the track in left, but overall this was one of the better defensive efforts in recent weeks for the Giants.
Curt Casali made a strong throw down to second to cut down one potential rally and Mike Yastrzemski sprinted 117 feet to track down a foul ball and end the second inning. Every out at Coors Field is big, and Brandon Belt came up with a nice catch by the Rockies dugout to keep the vibes going:
Belt appeared to hurt his hip on the play, but it was actually Yastrzemski who didn't finish the game. He fouled a ball off the top of his right foot in the top of the eighth and was removed a few minutes later.
