Rockies eager to ignite fireworks again vs. Giants

The offensive fireworks that often have accompanied Tomoyuki Sugano's starts for Colorado this season might be appropriate on Independence Day when the Rockies host the San Francisco Giants on Saturday night in Denver.

Jake McCarthy had a leadoff home run and subsequent grand slam in the Rockies' 15-3 victory over the Giants in the series opener on Friday. It was Colorado's third win over San Francisco in four tries this season.

All four meetings have been high scoring, with the Rockies totaling 31 runs in their three wins, while the Giants put up 19 in their lone victory. All four games have been at Coors Field.

Sugano (8-4, 4.80 ERA) went unbeaten in five June starts, going 4-0 with a 6.58 ERA. But the Rockies gave him 48 runs of support to help make the five Rockies wins happen.

The right-hander has allowed multiple home runs in four of his 16 starts this season.

He's faced the Giants just once in his two-year MLB career. He served up a homer to Rafael Devers among 10 hits and seven runs in 3 1/3 innings in a 13-2 loss for the Baltimore Orioles in San Francisco on Aug. 31.

The Rockies have won three games in a row, scoring 35 runs. Mickey Moniak, who contributed two hits to Friday's 18-hit assault, said the offensive approach comes from manager Warren Schaeffer.

"Instilling a mindset comes from Schaeff, from just knowing that we can bang and we can do damage, one through nine," Moniak said. "And the four guys on the bench are all tough outs. It doesn't matter who's at the plate, that guy's gonna get the job done. We got full confidence in that, and it's a fun thing."

Colorado will attempt to get the fireworks going early in Saturday's rematch, against Giants left-hander Robbie Ray (7-6, 3.39 ERA), who hasn't allowed an earned run in his last three starts, limiting the Atlanta Braves (twice) and Athletics to a total of two unearned runs and eight hits over 22 1/3 innings. He's won all three of those games and hasn't lost since May 18, a stretch of seven starts.

One of those outings was a 19-6 win at Colorado on May 31, a game in which he was not credited with a win because he went only four innings, allowing one earned run.

Ray, 34, is 6-6 with a 5.14 ERA in 23 lifetime starts against the Rockies, including 2-2 with a 5.10 ERA in 12 visits to Coors Field.

Friday's loss was the Giants' eighth in their last 13 games, a stretch in which they've faced the Athletics, Arizona Diamondbacks and Rockies -- all sub-.500 teams -- in seven contests.

San Francisco manager Tony Vitello grumbled a bit when it was suggested to him after the loss by a reporter that his team had failed to take advantage of an "easy" stretch of games.

"There's no easy part of the schedule in this league, especially when you're on the road," Vitello said. "I don't even know what (the Rockies') exact record is, but there's plenty of left-handed hitters in the middle of their lineup that are plenty good."

--Field Level Media