Giants 7, Rockies 3
SAN FRANCISCO -- Brandon Belt and Andres Torres smacked back-to-back doubles in a three-run, tiebreaking fifth inning Sunday, and the San Francisco Giants rallied to beat the Colorado Rockies 7-3 in a duel of teams that began the day tied for the lead in the National League West.
The win, which capped a 4-2 homestand, allowed the Giants to remain deadlocked with the Arizona Diamondbacks atop the NL West, with the Rockies now a game back in third. San Francisco won two of three in the series despite falling behind in all three.
Matt Cain (4-2) survived a wild first two innings -- and Michael Cuddyer's two-run double in the first -- to win for the fourth consecutive time in May after having gone winless in April.
In pitching the Giants to their 15th come-from-behind win of the year, Cain allowed only one hit after Cuddyer's first-inning shot. However, five walks in the first two innings quickly ran his pitch count into triple figures, and he was pulled after five innings. He struck out six.
Colorado's first error of the series extended the Giants' game-changing fifth inning and resulted in all three runs being unearned.
With two outs and Marco Scutaro on second, Hunter Pence skied a popup in the general vicinity of Rockies second baseman DJ LeMahieu, who initially seemed to have trouble with the sun, then fell victim to a San Francisco breeze that blew the ball toward right field. LeMahieu lunged back at the last moment but couldn't as much as get a glove on the ball. It was nonetheless ruled an error.
Two batters later, a 2-2 game had become 5-2, with Belt driving in Scutaro and Pence with a shot over Dexter Fowler's head in center field, and Torres plating Belt with a drive down the right field line.
Rockies starter Jon Garland (3-6) gave up all five Giants runs in five innings. He was touched for seven hits and walked four while striking out two.
Pence's two-out, two-run bloop double off reliever Edgmer Escalona in the sixth inning gave the Giants bullpen a five-run cushion.
Pinch hitter Jordan Pacheco's RBI single off the fourth Giants reliever, Sandy Rosario, capped the scoring in the eighth inning.
Cain was so shaky early on, the Giants had Chad Gaudin warming up in the bullpen in the second inning. That appeared to wake up the veteran right-hander.
Cain threw 26 pitches to the first four Rockies batters alone, walking three of them on full counts. Then when he grooved his first pitch to the next hitter, Cuddyer jumped on it and blasted a two-run double over Torres' head in left field.
The Rockies stranded runners on second and third, however, and did so again in the second inning after Cain's fourth and fifth walks of the first 10 batters. In fact, Colorado didn't get another hit off the San Francisco ace until Fowler's leadoff double in the fifth.
Meanwhile, the Giants drew even by the end of the fourth inning, getting a solo home run from Buster Posey in the second and a run-scoring fielder's choice from Brandon Crawford in the fourth. However, San Francisco didn't take full advantage of its opportunities, either, stranding three runners in scoring position in those two innings.
Posey's homer was his seventh of the season and extended his hitting streak to 10 games.
Cuddyer left the game in the sixth inning after being hit on the right forearm by a pitch from Giants reliever George Kontos. X-rays were negative.
NOTES: There were 19 baserunners stranded in the game, 13 in scoring position. ... The Rockies went 5-5 in a 10-game stretch of games against NL West competition. ... Colorado had been 22-6 when it scored first before blowing early leads Saturday and Sunday. ... The Giants announced before the game RHP Santiago Casilla will have surgery next week to have a cyst removed from the tibia below his right knee. Presuming there are no complications in the procedure, Casilla is expected to miss about a month. ... CF Angel Pagan, hero of the Giants' 6-5, 10-inning win Saturday with a dramatic, inside-the-park home run, felt discomfort in his left hamstring overnight and was kept out of Sunday's game. ... The Giants might have suffered a second casualty in the aftermath of Pagan's home run when RHP Tim Lincecum sprained his left ankle in the celebration behind home plate. The injury is not considered serious, and at this point his status for Wednesday's start against the Oakland A's hasn't changed. ... A "rivalry" is born Monday when the Rockies play their newly designated American League West rival, the Houston Astros. ... While the Rockies are playing four consecutive games -- two on the road, then two at home -- against the Astros, the Giants will be squaring off with their rival, the Oakland A's. Their four-game sequence begins with two in Oakland, then shifts to San Francisco for a pair.
