DENVER — Kyle Freeland gave up hits and even got hit, but the rookie gave the surging Colorado Rockies the outing they needed.
Freeland pitched six solid innings and shook off a liner off his pitching arm, Tony Wolters drove in two runs and the Colorado Rockies beat the San Francisco Giants again, 5-1 on Saturday.
The Rockies are 9-1 against San Francisco this season and have won the last eight against the Giants. Colorado had 14 hits but only one for extra bases, a double by pinch-hitter Pat Valaika in the seventh inning.
“A lot of singles today. That tells me there was some pretty good pitching,” Rockies manager Bud Black said.
Freeland (8-4) wasn’t as sharp as his seven shutout innings against San Francisco on April 23 but he held the Giants to one run and eight hits despite pitching in traffic in every inning. The rookie left-hander left with a 2-1 lead and pumped his fist after striking out pinch-hitter Brandon Belt to end the sixth with a runner on second.
“He pumped me up,” Wolters said. “He jumped off that mound, started fist pumping. I love that energy about him.”
Freeland had a scary moment in the fourth when Joe Panik’s line drive up the middle hit him near his elbow and then glanced off his biceps. The trainer looked at him and after one warmup pitch he said he was fine.
“A little knotted up but I’ll be alright,” Freeland said. “I didn’t know if it was going to swell up immediately or have structural damage but they ran a couple of tests out there and it was fine.”
Giants starter Matt Cain took a shot off Carlos Gonzalez’s bat in the fourth but staye in the game.
Nolan Arenado made it 3-1 with a single in the sixth and Wolters and Valaika had two-out hits in the seventh to stretch the lead to 5-1. All six runs in the game were scored with two outs.
Cain (3-6), winless since May 15, lost for the fifth time in six starts and Joe Panik had three hits for the Giants, who have lost five straight and 14 of 18.
Panik was denied a fourth hit when first baseman Mark Reynolds caught his liner and stepped on first to double off Kelby Tomlinson to end the game.
“We’re not doing enough to win the ballgames,” Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. “We score 17 runs in the first two games and we can’t get a win, and we get a pretty good pitching job and we get one run today. That’s kind of how it’s gone for us.”
TRAINER’S ROOM
Giants: LHP Madison Bumgarner (left AC shoulder strain) threw a 40-pitch bullpen session in Arizona on Saturday. Bochy said he will have another session in a few days. … C Buster Posey started at 1B to take stress off his sore left ankle.
Rockies: LHP Tyler Anderson (left knee inflammation) was scheduled to throw 75 pitches in a rehab start for Triple-A Albuquerque and RHP Jon Gray (stress fracture, right foot) is slated for a rehab start for Albuquerque on Monday. If things go well both could rejoin the Rockies rotation next week.
STREAK SNAPPED
Arenado’s misplay of Nick Hundley’s grounder in the second inning was his first error of the season. Arenado’s 71-game errorless streak, which included the last three games of 2016, was the third longest by a third baseman in club history. Vinny Castilla went 75 games without an error in 2004 and Jeff Cirillo’s 85-game errorless streak in 2001 tops the list.
Arenado quickly atoned by fielding Aaron Hill’s grounder to start a double play.
FRIENDLY FIRE
Hundley had a minor collision with Wolters in the fourth inning. Hundley scored on a single and glanced off Wolters as he crossed the plate.
When Wolters came to bat in the bottom of the inning Hundley gave him a fist bump to express no hard feelings.
“I was trying to deke him, got close and then just bumped,” Wolters said. “There wasn’t anything from it. He’s my big brother. He was here and helped me out.”
UP NEXT
Giants: LHP Ty Blach (4-4, 4.24 ERA) will make his first start and fifth appearance against the Rockies on Sunday. The Denver native has tossed six scoreless innings in his career against the Rockies.
Rockies: RHP Tyler Chatwood (6-7, 4.16 ERA) will start for the third time against the Giants on Sunday. Chatwood is 2-4 with a 7.03 ERA at home this season.
