San Francisco, CA (SportsNetwork.com) – On a day the San Francisco Giants
celebrated their latest World Series title, the Colorado Rockies had a little
fun as well.
Eddie Butler escaped several jams to throw 5 1/3 scoreless innings, combining
with five Colorado relievers on a five-hitter as the Rockies posted a 2-0 win
in the Giants’ home opener.
Butler (1-0) worked around six walks and five hits allowed by continuing San
Francisco’s recent struggles in clutch situations, with the Giants stranding a
total of 12 runners en route to a fourth straight loss.
San Francisco went 0-of-7 with runners in scoring position and is hitting an
anemic .091 (3-of-33) in such situations during its skid.
Troy Tulowitzki’s RBI single in the fourth inning and Chris Heston’s wild
pitch that scored Nick Hundley in the seventh accounted for the Rockies’ two
runs.
Heston (1-1) pitched well for a second straight start in place of an injured
Matt Cain, with the rookie yielding two runs — one earned — and striking out
five over seven innings in a hard-luck outcome.
Nori Aoki finished 2-for-4 for San Francisco to extend his hitting streak to
16 games.
Despite landing in trouble for a large portion of his effectively wild outing,
Butler was able to keep the Giants off the board by preventing the big hit.
The young righty worked out of bases-loaded jams in each of the first two
innings and stranded two more runners in the third. San Francisco threatened
again an inning later, with a single by Aoki and a walk to Joe Panik putting
two on with one out. But Butler induced a double-play grounder to Angel Pagan
to end the fourth, two of the 11 outs he recorded on the ground on the
afternoon.
Heston, meanwhile, faced the minimum before Charlie Blackmon singled to lead
off the fourth and took second on a groundout. The rookie then hung a
curveball that Tulowitzki hammered to left for a single that brought in the
game’s first run.
Hundley doubled off Heston and scored an insurance run in the seventh.
After advancing a base on DJ LeMahieu’s infield hit, the Colorado catcher was
able to dislodge the ball from Heston’s glove while rumbling home on a pitch
in the dirt.
The Rockies’ bullpen didn’t permit a hit over a combined 3 2/3 innings of
work, with Rafael Betancourt fanning two in a perfect ninth to save Butler’s
second career win as a major leaguer.
Betancourt was given first crack at replacing LaTroy Hawkins, removed from the
closer’s role by manager Walt Weiss after giving up three runs in the top of
the ninth of Sunday’s 6-5 loss to the Cubs.
Game Notes
The Giants lost for only the third time in their last 15 home openers …
Hesston became just the second rookie pitcher to start a Giants home opener.
Alan Fowlkes got the nod against San Diego at Candlestick Park in 1982 …
LeMahieu went 3-for-4 and is batting .517 (15-of-28) during a seven-game
hitting streak to begin the season … San Francisco third baseman Casey
McGehee missed a second straight game due to a bone bruise in his left knee
… The Giants are 0-for-6 in bases-loaded situations so far this season
