Field Level Media
Jun 28, 2018
Brandon Crawford smacked a walk-off home run with one out in the bottom of the ninth inning Wednesday night, ending what began as a brilliant pitchers' duel between Madison Bumgarner and Kyle Freeland in a 1-0 victory for the San Francisco Giants over the Colorado Rockies in San Francisco.
Crawford's ninth homer of the year came on the third pitch of the at-bat from Rockies left-hander Harrison Musgrave (0-3), giving the Giants a fourth straight victory overall and second in two days over the Rockies.
Neither team managed much offense in the first seven innings, when Bumgarner allowed two hits and Freeland four in a scoreless tie.
Reyes Moronta (4-1), the Giants' third pitcher, was credited with the win after retiring both batters he faced in the top of the ninth.
Bumgarner, who was making just his fifth start of the season, was coming off eight innings of shutout ball against the San Diego Padres last Thursday.
He retired the first 14 Rockies he faced before longtime nemesis Carlos Gonzalez lashed a double to end the no-hit bid.
Bumgarner then pitched carefully to Chris Iannetta and Noel Cuevas, walking them both, before striking out Freeland to end the threat.
Charlie Blackmon got the only other hit off Bumgarner, a one-out single in the sixth.
The four-time All-Star gave up two hits and two walks in his seven innings, striking out eight, including the 1,500th punchout of his career against the first batter he faced.
The Giants, meanwhile, also got just one baserunner as far as third base against Freeland, that being Buster Posey, who walked with one out in the fourth and advanced two bases on Crawford's two-out single.
But Freeland got Pablo Sandoval to ground out, retaining the scoreless tie.
Freeland allowed four hits and one walk in his seven innings, striking out four.
Crawford was the only player in the game with two hits, helping the Giants improve to 7-2 on their 10-game homestand.
Giants pitchers have now allowed three or fewer runs in 10 of their last 13 games.
The loss was the fourth straight for the Rockies, who have totaled just nine runs during the skid.
--Field Level Media