Rockies at Giants
The Giants’ infield remains in a state of flux heading into their two-game set with Colorado. In Sunday’s 7-3 win over Arizona, San Francisco started an infield featuring relative unknowns Hector Sanchez, Brett Pill, Charlie Culberson, Brandon Crawford and Joaquin Arias. The lineup resulted in a win thanks to Pill’s two-run homer, but the Giants know they’ll need a healthy Pablo Sandoval and Buster Posey to catch the division-leading Dodgers.
Colorado has lost three straight series and sit 9 1/2 games out of first after falling to 1-5 on their nine-game road trip with an 11-5 loss to the Dodgers on Sunday. Tyler Colvin is hitting 6-for-14 (.429) with a home run during the road trip, forcing the Rockies to find ways to get him into the lineup. Unfortunately for the Rockies, Colvin doesn’t play third base, where Chris Nelson is batting just .222. Top prospect Nolan Arenado is playing well for Double-A Tulsa, but the Rockies don’t want to rush his progress.
TV: 10:15 p.m. ET, ROOT (Colorado), CSN Bay Area (San Francisco)
PITCHING MATCHUP: Rockies LH Christian Friedrich (1-0, 1.50 ERA) vs. Giants RH Ryan Vogelsong (1-2, 2.94 ERA)
Friedrich earned the win in his major league debut Wednesday, giving up two runs (one earned) with seven strikeouts over six innings against the Padres. A first-round pick in 2008, Friedrich began the season in Triple-A, where he had a 3.00 ERA and a 27/4 strikeout-to-walk ratio in five starts.
Vogelsong has dealt with recurring back problems since spring training, but he was able to throw 7 1/3 strong innings against Los Angeles last Tuesday. Vogelsong has gone 4-0 with a 1.78 ERA in nine games (four starts) against the Rockies.
WALK-OFFS
1. Rockies center fielder Dexter Fowler was removed from Sunday’s game as a precaution with blurred vision.
2. The Giants’ Melky Cabrera, who went 4-for-5 on Sunday, is averaging .468 during his 11-game hitting streak.
3. Rockies catcher Wilin Rosario has nine extra-base hits among his 12 total.