San Francisco Giants

Giants Swept by Rockies for First Time Ever

DENVER — Pitching for the first time in 10 days, Mark Melancon found a familiar result.

The closer got his first save opportunity since June 8, and like that day in Milwaukee, Melancon couldn’t hold on. The Rockies scored four in the ninth, winning on Nolan Arenado’s walk-off homer that clinched a cycle for the Rockies superstar.

The Giants fell 7-5, losing for the 15th time in 19 games. The four-game sweep was Colorado’s first ever against the Giants. Here are five things to know from all the earlier action ...

— Hunter Pence’s homer in the ninth was the first pinch-hit blast of his career. He got a 96 mph heater from Jake McGee and put it well into the seats in left. The homer went an estimated 440 feet.

— Ty Blach, pitching in front of about 100 family members and friends, threw well in his first Coors Field start. The Denver native gave up three runs in 6 2/3 innings, and two of them came on solo homers in the seventh. Throw in a pinch-hit RBI single on Thursday and pinch-running appearance Friday and that’s a pretty nice homecoming for the lefty.

— Crawford hit his second oppo homer of the series in the fifth inning, bringing in the first runs of the game. Crawford slumped through the last homestand, but he was 6 for 14 in the series at Coors.

— The other Brandon was hitless in 18 at-bats entering the day but he poked the first pitch he saw from Tyler Chatwood for a single. Belt then struck out twice and flied out to deep center.

— Nolan Arenado broke up Blach’s shutout with an RBI double in the sixth. This was Arenado’s 80th career game against the Giants. He has 32 doubles and 72 RBI. He also had a single and triple Sunday.

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