DENVER -- The Giants knew they’d need the rest of their hitters to step up after star third baseman Matt Chapman landed on the 10-day injured list with right hand inflammation. The group certainly rose to the occasion on Tuesday night.
San Francisco erupted for four runs in the top of the ninth to erase a three-run deficit and stun the Rockies, 6-5, at Coors Field, extending the club’s winning streak to six games.
The Giants trailed, 5-2, before Casey Schmitt -- who is expected to fill in at third base for Chapman -- led off the ninth with a homer to left field off Zach Agnos. Tyler Fitzgerald, Andrew Knizner and Willy Adames then walked to load the bases with one out for Heliot Ramos, who lifted a sacrifice fly to center field to cut the deficit to one.
Wilmer Flores tied the game by beating out an infield single that came off his bat at 49.3 mph and had a launch angle of minus-72 degrees, resulting in a soft dribbler that hit two feet in front of the plate and rolled just to the left of the mound.
The 33-year-old Flores ranks in the third percentile in sprint speed this year, but he turned on the jets and got down the line in 4.80 seconds to bring home the tying run from third. He ended up posting a sprint speed of 25.6 feet per second on the play, which was a tick faster than his season average of 24.4 feet per second.
“As soon as I hit it, I gave it everything I had,” said Flores, who ranks seventh in the Majors with 50 RBIs over 65 games this season. “I’m not pretty fast, but I kind of smelled it. With the tying run at third, I had to go all in.”
“Speed kills,” Ramos said.
Mike Yastrzemski capped the rally with a go-ahead single to right field, giving the Giants their first lead since the first inning.
“The guys know that without Chappy we’re missing probably the biggest piece of the lineup, but we know we have to grind and keep doing our best and obviously try to continue what we’re doing,” Adames said. “The boys showed up with the right mentality. We’re going to [have] his back, so whenever he comes back we’re going to be in a good place.”
Closer Camilo Doval worked a scoreless ninth to record his 10th save of the year and close out San Francisco’s eighth consecutive one-run game. With their 19th comeback victory and MLB-high 17th one-run win of the year, the Giants (39-28) climbed 11 games over .500 for the first time since Aug. 7, 2023. Each of their last six wins have been decided by one run, the longest such streak in franchise history.
“Crazy,” left-hander Kyle Harrison said. “Thrilling, in a way. We like to make it painful. But hopefully we’ll keep coming up on the other side of it.”
The Giants will need consistent production from up and down their lineup to withstand the loss of Chapman, who is expected to miss more than 10 days after hurting his hand on a dive back to first base on Sunday, but his absence will likely put more pressure on Adames to finally get going after an anemic start to the year. The 29-year-old shortstop has batted only .194 with a .599 OPS over his first 66 games since joining the Giants on a franchise-record $182 million deal, prompting the club to give him his first day off of the year on Sunday.
The timing of the break didn’t feel like a coincidence, as Monday’s off-day meant Adames would be able to enjoy a 48-hour mental reset before returning to action at the hitter-friendly Coors Field.
“It was good,” Adames said. “Obviously, it was good for the body and the mind to relax a little bit. I love to be out there every day and compete, but [manager Bob Melvin] wanted to give me a day off. He’s been telling me, ‘I need to give you a day off. I need to give you a day off.’ I was like, ‘OK, OK.’”
The plan worked out well for Adames, who took a step toward snapping out of his season-long funk by driving in the Giants’ first two runs of the night. He lifted a sacrifice fly to score Jung Hoo Lee in the top of the first and then launched a 439-foot solo shot off Colorado left-hander Carson Palmquist to tie the game, 2-2, in the fifth. Adames’ sixth homer of the season snapped an 0-for-19 skid and marked his first long ball since May 13.
“I feel like taking good at-bats was the most I can take out of tonight,” Adames said. “Obviously, getting a homer feels great, but for me, it’s more the feeling of going out there and seeing the ball better and taking good at-bats and competing.”