SAN FRANCISCO – The San Francisco Giants’ bullpen fell apart in the late going, and Justin Verlander still does not have a win in his now not-so-new uniform.
Tyler Rogers, who had allowed only one run in 16 games this season, gave up two in the top of the eighth inning, putting the Giants in a hole they couldn’t escape in a 4-3 loss to the MLB-worst Colorado Rockies on Thursday at Oracle Park.
Rogers allowed three hits in the eighth inning, including a single to Hunter Goodman that scored Jordan Beck and gave the Rockies a one-run lead. Goodman hit an 82 mph sinker that caught too much of the plate.
“All those pitches were kind of up,” Rogers said. “That’s my take.”
San Francisco could not respond as it lost its third straight game and dropped the opener of a four-game set against the Rockies, who had won just one of their previous 15 road games this season.
Rogers came into Thursday with a 2-0 record and a 0.59 ERA in 15.1 innings this season. His ERA is now 1.65.
“It’s just so unexpected the way (Rogers has) pitched this year, but you’ve got to give (the Rockies) credit,” Giants manager Bob Melvin said. “They had a good approach off of him and strung hits together, which doesn’t happen often.”
The Giants took a 3-1 lead in the bottom of the sixth, as Wilmer Flores and Mike Yastrzemski drove in runs against stingy left-hander Kyle Freeland.
With the game tied 1-1, Willy Adames opened the sixth with a single to left, followed by a double to right from Flores to put the Giants ahead. Flores advanced to third on Matt Chapman’s deep fly ball and scored on Yastrzemski’s double to left.
That put Verlander in line for his first win with the Giants (19-13). He was taken out of the game after 6 1/3 innings, and one batter after allowing a home run to Rockies third baseman Ryan McMahon on a 91-mph fastball to cut San Francisco’s lead to one.
Verlander, who signed a one-year, $15 million contract with San Francisco in January, allowed five hits and struck out four.
After spending most of the last seven seasons pitching inside the Houston Astros’ climate-controlled indoor stadium, Verlander is again having to get used to throwing in chilly weather. Thursday’s temperature at first pitch was 54 degrees, and he threw 21 of his 85 pitches in the first inning.
“The long inning, I’m going to have to make some adjustments here with the cold weather,” Verlander said. “Found it a little difficult to get loose, so … live and learn.”
“I just probably need to make some adjustments to keep my body a little loose for a long inning,” Verlander added. “That was the first time that’s really happened to me here.”
Verlander had a 0-2 record, a 4.70 ERA, and 28 strikeouts over 30.2 innings in his first six starts this season.
But in those six Verlander starts, the Giants scored just 12 runs of support. On April 25 at home against the Texas Rangers, Verlander struck out five and allowed one earned run in six innings, but the Giants managed just four hits in a 2-0 loss.
Verlander has gone winless through seven starts only one other time in his 20-year MLB career, and that was in 2015 when he began 0-3 and had a 5.57 ERA with the Detroit Tigers. He finished that year with a 5-8 record and a 3.38 ERA in 20 games, as he began the season on the injured list with a right triceps strain.
“You can only control what you can control, and you try to make good pitches,” Verlander said. “Once the ball leaves your hand, you never know what’s going to happen. Hitters can get lucky. They can hit a bad pitch good, they can hit a good pitch bad. You just focus on yourself, honestly, try to get deep in the game, try to give your team a chance to win.”
Going into Thursday, the Giants were just 2-7 this season against a left-handed starter. In those nine games, they managed just 28 runs and hit .201 as a team.
Ramos, though, took the first pitch he saw from Freeland, a 90 mph sinker, 430 feet over the left-center field wall for a 1-0 Giants lead. The homer was Ramos’ fifth of the season and second in as many days after he hit 22 last year.
The Rockies (6-25) got that run back in the top of the third inning. After shortstop Alan Trejo doubled to left field, center fielder Brenton Doyle singled, driving a hanging curveball to left to score Trejo for his 15th RBI of the season.
After Ramos’ home run, the Giants managed just one hit over the next five innings. Freeland got Yastrzemski to ground into a double play to end the first inning, then retired 12 of the next 14 batters he faced.