Third baseman Ryan McMahon was one of the few Rockies players able to tackle San Francisco right-hander Kevin Gausman on Monday afternoon at Coors Field.
McMahon hit a solo homer to left-center in the second and pulled a turn in the fourth against Gausman, who hit seven strong innings in the Giants’ 10 -5 win. McMahon homered for the third time in 11 games, and the fact that he took the ball the opposite way was a good sign.
“When I can hit balls to center-left instead of cutting them or cutting them, it’s a sign that I’m starting to do some things better,” McMahon said.
He came in on Monday, scoring just .125 / .182 / .300 with a double and two home runs over his last 12 games. Prior to that decline, he had cut .297 / .375 / .406 down over an 18-game stretch.
McMahon has hit five home runs in 62 games since June 16 after hitting 16 homers
his first 67 games.
Colorado trio. Thomas Jefferson High School graduate Kyle Freeland kicked off Monday’s game against the Giants’ Gausman, who graduated from Grandview. But they were not the only Colorado children on the mound.
Legacy High product Lucas Gilbreath placed a scoring ninth for the Rockies, giving up a hit and hitting one, reducing his ERA to 4.22. Gilbreath has kept the opponent goalless in 10 straight games and 14 of his last 16 games while posting a 1.03 ERA.
Footnotes. When Freeland gave up a leadoff homer to Darin Ruf, it marked the first time in franchise history that the Rockies allowed a leadoff home run in back-to-back games. Plus, they have allowed the leadoff hitter to homer in four consecutive games for the second time in franchise history. (Also 1-3. June 2015). … Charlie Blackmon tripled in sixth inning to hack an extra-base hit in four straight games. It was his first time doing it since 6-9. August 2020. The triple was Blackmon’s 52nd in his career, a failure to tie Dexter Fowler to the franchise record.
