 tossed 5 1/3 innings and allowed three runs on eight hits, including homers by Longoria and Posey. The left-hander struck out three and walked none.Samardzija (1-4) left after one inning because of tightness in his pitching shoulder. He threw 23 pitches, allowing three hits and two runs. He was replaced by rookie right-hander Dereck Rodriguez, the son of Hall of Fame catcher Ivan Rodriguez who was making his major league debut.The younger Rodriguez, called up Monday from Triple-A Sacramento, went 3 1/3 innings and allowed four runs - one earned. He was removed after being struck in the right calf area by a line drive off the bat of Desmond with one out in the fifth.Leading 2-0, the Rockies took advantage of some sloppy defense by the Giants to add three unearned runs in the fourth. Rodriguez fanned the first two hitters he faced before Freeland doubled. Second baseman Kelby Tomlinson failed to handle Charlie Blackmon's grounder for his second error of the night, allowing Freeland to score. Blackmon advanced to third on a throwing error by first baseman Brandon Belt, and Parra and Arenado followed with RBI doubles.Tomlinson made a third error when his high toss on Story's eighth-inning fielder's choice pulled shortstop Brandon Crawford off second base.TRAINER'S ROOMGiants: LHP Madison Bumgarner is scheduled to make his second minor league rehab start Thursday, at Class A San Jose. He is slated to throw between 70 and 75 pitches and provided he comes out of the outing well, he's expected to be reinstated from the 60-day disabled list. ''Hopefully, knock on wood, all goes well, he feels fine when he comes out of it, and he'll be pitching for us,'' manager Bruce Bochy said. Bumgarner broke his left hand in his final spring training game against Kansas City on March 23 when he was struck by a line drive. He pitched 3 2/3 scoreless innings with eight strikeouts in his first rehab start for Triple-A Sacramento last Saturday.Rockies: Dahl was held out of the starting lineup because of a sore left shin after he collided at second base Monday night with Crawford.UP NEXTGiants: LHP Derek Holland (2-6, 4.73 ERA) makes his third career start against the Rockies on Wednesday. He is 0-2 with a 9.00 ERA in his previous outings.Rockies: RHP Jon Gray (5-6, 5.40) faces the Giants at Coors Field for the first time. He has gone 0-2 with a 4.26 ERA in four previous starts, all in San Francisco.---More baseball: https://apnews.com/tag/MLBbaseball)
Freeland, Rockies face Giants 21m ago• 3 min read DENVER -- Left-hander Kyle Freeland, 25, who has been the Colorado Rockies' most reliable starting pitcher lately, will try to continue his run of success Tuesday against the San Francisco Giants.Freeland (4-5,3.28 ERA) will oppose veteran right-hander Jeff Samardzija, 33, who is 1-3 with a 6.23 ERA.Freeland took a three-start winning streak into his last outing on Wednesday and pitched well but lost 3-0 at Los Angeles. He allowed three runs in 6 1/3 innings.In his past six starts, Freeland has pitched seven innings in three of those and no fewer than 6 1/3 innings in the six games.During that stretch, Freeland is 4-2 with a 2.01 ERA in 40 1/3 innings, allowing 28 hits, including one homer, and 12 walks with 35 strikeouts. Freeland yielded five homers in his first four starts covering 20 innings and was 0-3 with a 5.85 ERA."I think what we saw was improved fastball command, especially inside to right-handed hitters," Rockies manager Bud Black said when asked about Freeland's successful six-start stretch. "I think his slider has had better spin to it, so the rotation on his breaking ball is much more consistent. So that's led to better quality pitches."I think the changeup has become a little bit more functional, maybe not in drastic amounts, but in small doses the changeup has been usable. I think those three things just on the fundamental side have been key."I think his delivery, he's much more comfortable now at the end of May (with) the delivery he sort of had to work through in spring training and part of April. So I think there's just a total confidence in so many things sort of adding up that it led to this six-start run." Freeland lives in Scottsdale, Ariz., where the Rockies' spring training complex is located. He began working there on his delivery after Thanksgiving with Darryl Scott, one of the Rockies' pitching coordinators.Freeland used to have a Clayton Kershaw-like pause and kick with his front leg that led Freeland to being overly rotational in his delivery and not as ideally aligned toward home plate when releasing the ball."We found out that by doing that pause at the bottom, it kind of de-loaded me and kind of robbed me of some of my power," Freeland said. "Now I'm holding my weight load up higher and then driving directly down the mound and toward the plate. I'm controlling the zone better and throwing more strikes." Freeland has thrown a team-leading 60 1/3 innings, which includes three starts at Coors Field, where he's 2-1 with a 1.40 ERA. He's 3-2 with a 2.79 ERA in five starts against the Giants, including one this season at San Francisco on May 17 where Freeland gave up five hits and one run in 6 2/3 innings and won 6-1.Samardzija has pitched six innings in one of seven starts this season, and the Giants are 2-5 in those games. He gave up four hits, five walks and four runs in 4 2/3 innings while losing 4-1 on Wednesday at Houston.Samardzija received a no-decision on May 17 against the Rockies in San Francisco, giving up five hits and three runs in 6 2/3 innings in the Giants' 5-3 loss. He's 4-5 with a 3.84 ERA in 16 games (12 starts) against the Rockies and 2-2 with a 4.87 ERA in eight games (five starts) at Coors Field.After the Giants lost 6-5 in 10 innings Monday, manager Bruce Bochy said ace left-hander Madison Bumgarner, who suffered a broken left hand in spring training, would make a second rehab start Thursday at high-Class A San Jose. He threw 47 pitches in 3 2/3 scoreless innings in his first rehab start Saturday for Triple-A Sacramento."Right now, I'm saying, right now, he's scheduled to pitch in San Jose," Bochy said. "Just put him in a situation where we can get him stretched out. He's had one start down there. We'll talk about it some more." Asked if he might change his mind, depending how the starters fare and the bullpen is used the next two days, Bochy said, "That's always a possibility."
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