Rockies at Giants
Kevin Pillar is beginning to pay big dividends after struggling in his first few games with the San Francisco Giants and the center fielder hopes to lead his new team to a four-game home sweep of the last-place Colorado Rockies on Sunday. Pillar was 2-for-16 in his first five games after being acquired from Toronto, but has launched four homers and knocked in 12 runs in the past six contests after going deep in Saturday’s 5-2 win.
The Giants have won four of five and pitching has been the biggest reason, allowing nine runs in that stretch after former World Series MVP Madison Bumgarner earned his first victory Saturday with seven solid innings. Left-hander Derek Holland, who has improved his numbers in each of the last two starts, will try to continue San Francisco’s success on the mound when he takes the ball for the finale and Colorado counters with right-hander German Marquez after he struggled in his last outing. The Rockies, who made the playoffs last season, are off to a surprising start while sitting last in the majors in on-base percentage (.261) and at the bottom of the National League in homers (nine) after managing five runs in their last four games and striking out 42 times in the series. “Something’s got to change,” Colorado outfielder Ian Desmond told reporters. “We’ve got a good collection of guys in here. Something’s got to be shaken up.”
TV: 4:05 p.m. ET, AT&T SportsNet Rocky Mountain (Colorado), NBCS Bay Area (San Francisco)
PITCHING MATCHUP: Rockies RH German Marquez (1-1, 3.00 ERA) vs. Giants LH Derek Holland (1-1, 3.38)
Marquez suffered his first loss of the season Tuesday against Atlanta, allowing five runs on seven hits - two homers - across five frames in a 7-1 setback. The 24-year-old Venezuelan was outstanding on the team’s trip to Florida to open the season, permitting one run over 13 innings against Miami and Tampa Bay. Yangervis Solarte is 4-for-6 with a pair of homers versus Marquez, who was 0-1 with a 3.55 ERA in two starts against San Francisco last year.
Holland registered his first quality start of the season Tuesday, limiting San Diego to one run on five hits with nine strikeouts across seven innings for the victory. The 32-year-old Ohio native, who is 77-74 in his career, has struck out 21 batters in 16 innings but walked eight batters in three starts to drive up his pitch count. Desmond is 4-for-8 with two homers and five RBIs against Holland, who was 1-1 with a 4.58 ERA in three starts versus Colorado in 2018.
WALK-OFFS
1. Colorado 3B Nolan Arenado, who belted 158 homers combined the previous four seasons, has yet to go deep in 2019.
2. San Francisco 1B Brandon Belt was scratched from the starting lineup Saturday because of neck stiffness, but came on late in the game.
3. Rockies SS Trevor Story leads the team with four homers along with nine RBIs, and is batting .363 against the Giants the last two seasons.