Story's homer helps Rockies beat Giants
SAN FRANCISCO -- Trevor Story hit his first home run of the season, and left-hander Chris Rusin rescued injured Jon Gray with 3 1/3 innings of lead-protecting relief Thursday night, guiding the Colorado Rockies to a 3-1 victory over the San Francisco Giants in the opener of a four-game series.
DJ LeMahieu had two hits and scored a run for the Rockies, who flew into San Francisco having lost three of their last four games after a 5-1 start.
Story's home run to left field came off Giants ace Madison Bumgarner (0-2), who remained winless in three starts despite striking out eight in six innings. He allowed all three of Colorado's runs on six hits.
Staked to a two-run lead by Story's homer in the top of the fourth, Gray threw only five pitches in the bottom of the inning before having to be removed because of an aggravation of a strained right foot he sustained in spring training.
Rusin and three fellow relievers teamed to limit the Giants to four hits the rest of the way, with closer Greg Holland surviving a bases-loaded jam in a scoreless ninth for his sixth save.
The Giants put the potential tying runs in scoring position against Holland with one out on a grounder off the pitcher's glove by Joe Panik, a slow roller to shortstop by Hunter Pence and a walk to Conor Gillaspie.
But Holland, who hadn't allowed a hit in his first five innings this season, got Eduardo Nunez to hit a one-hop shot right at second baseman LeMahieu, who turned it into a game-ending, 4-6-3 double play.
Rusin (1-0) was credited with the win after allowing just one run on two hits. He struck out two.
Right-hander Adam Ottavino and lefty Mike Dunn combined to get five outs in the seventh and eighth innings before handing the ball off to Holland for the dramatic ninth.
The Giants' only run came in the seventh inning when Nunez hit a sacrifice fly off Ottavino to score Pence, who had reached base on a fielder's choice off Rusin.
The Rockies (7-4) out-hit the Giants 7-5.
Right-hander Neil Ramirez pitched two shutout innings and lefty Ty Blach one in relief of Bumgarner for the Giants, who had won three of their previous four.
Story's homer came with two outs in the fourth and also scored Carlos Gonzalez, who had singled one out earlier.
The home run came in his 33rd at-bat of the season, by which point he had blasted seven in last year's historic, rookie-season start.
Gray was pulled after issuing an inning-opening walk to Panik in the bottom of the fourth. He had shut out the Giants on one hit -- a leadoff single by Denard Span in the first -- through three innings.
The Diamondbacks added to their lead in the sixth on singles by LeMahieu, Nolan Arenado and Mark Reynolds, making it 3-0.
NOTES: It took Rockies SS Trevor Story only a total of four pitches over two at-bats to hit his first home run in last season's opener at Arizona. ... Rockies RHP Jon Gray was pitching for the first time since donating eight inches of his hair to Locks of Love on Tuesday. ... Giants LHP Madison Bumgarner is winless in his first three starts for the first time since 2011, when he opened 0-6 in eight starts. ... Bumgarner popped up and grounded out in his two at-bats. He is 0-for-5 since opening the season with home runs in his first two at-bats in Arizona. ... Giants RF Hunter Pence went 1-for-4 with two strikeouts on his 34th birthday.