Giants at Rockies
With an enormous road trip on the horizon, the Colorado Rockies look to prepare for it with a sweep as they host the San Francisco Giants on Wednesday for the finale of their three-game road trip. Colorado has bounced back from a 1-5 start to its nine-game homestand with a pair of wins over San Francisco, including Tuesday's 9-6 triumph.
Charlie Blackmon went 0-for-5, marking just the second time in 13 games he was held without a hit, but each of the next seven batters in the Rockies' lineup recorded at least one hit and one RBI as the club increased its lead over Milwaukee for the second wild card in the National League to 2 1/2 games. DJ LeMahieu enters Wednesday with a 13-game hitting streak for the Rockies, who take to the road Thursday for four-game series against the NL West-leading Los Angeles Dodgers and Arizona - which occupies the first wild-card spot. Trevor Story went deep on Tuesday and needs one home run to give Colorado four players with at least 20 blasts. Joe Panik recorded one-third of his team's 12 hits and has gone 7-for-9 with a homer and three RBIs over the first two games of the series for San Francisco, which has lost seven of its last eight contests.
TV: 8:40 p.m. ET, NBCSN Bay Area (San Francisco), AT&T SportsNet Rocky Mountain (Colorado)
PITCHING MATCHUP: Giants RH Johnny Cueto (6-7, 4.54 ERA) vs. Rockies LH Kyle Freeland (11-9, 3.89)
Cueto returned from a 1 1/2-month absence due to blister and forearm issues on Friday and settled for a no-decision after allowing two runs and four hits in 5 1/3 innings against St. Louis. The 31-year-old Dominican is unbeaten in his last five outings, a stretch that has followed losses in three of his previous four turns. Cueto is 8-3 with a 2.71 ERA in 14 career starts against Colorado but was tagged for six runs and eight hits over five frames in a setback at Colorado on April 21.
Freeland's winless streak reached five starts on Friday, when he yielded three runs on five hits and three walks over four innings in a loss to Arizona. The 24-year-old rookie from Denver has not been victorious since July 30, when he defeated the Nationals in Washington for his third consecutive win. Freeland won his first two starts against the Giants before losing on June 28, when he surrendered four runs and seven hits in six frames at San Francisco.
WALK-OFFS
1. Giants RHP Jeff Samardzija was named the National League Player of the Week after tossing a three-hit shutout at San Diego on Aug. 28 and limiting St. Louis to one run and two hits over seven innings of a no-decision five days later.
2. Colorado recalled RHP Shane Carle, who tossed a perfect inning of relief at San Francisco on April 14 in his only major-league appearance, from Triple-A Albuquerque.
3. San Francisco recalled Reyes Moronta from Triple-A Sacramento, purchased the contract of fellow RHP Roberto Gomez from the River Cats, activated OF Austin Slater (groin) from the 10-day disabled list and designated OF Carlos Moncrief for assignment.