Infielder looks like Rockies’ best pitcher in embarrassing loss to Giants

Down 12-0 to the San Francisco Giants, manager Bud Black understandably threw in the towel, and let infielder Josh Fuentes throw from the mound. Fuentes, hovering between 74 and 79 miles per hour on what could only be called “change-ups,” threw a scoreless eighth inning, becoming the only Rockies pitcher to escape from the debacle unscathed.

Starter Austin Gomber lasted only 1 2/3 innings after allowing 11 baserunners and nine earned runs. The pair of Rockies pitchers that followed Gomber — Jhoulys Chacin and Tyler Kinley — fared better, but Chacin did allow one run and Kinley two as the Rockies’ offense was snuffed out for the second time this season by Giants hurler Anthony DeSclafani, who limited the Rockies to only three hits and a walk while striking out none to earn the complete-game, shutout win.

“I dislike that a lot. I never want to do that,” Black said about putting his corner infielder on the mound. “But tonight’s game, I thought, warranted that. We looked at a couple guys who were on our bench… we just went with Josh.”

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NEXT UP: Rockies (8-14, 5th in NL West) at Giants (15-8, T-1st, NL West) | Tuesday, Apr. 27 at 7:45 p.m. | COL: Chi Chi Gonzalez (1-0, 3.00 ERA) vs SF: Aaron Sanchez (1-1, 1.83 ERA).

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NOTES

• General manager Jeff Bridich resigned from the Rockies on Monday in what was termed a “mutual agreement.” The fact that Bridich, responsible for many of the Rockies’ worst free-agent signings and trades in team history, is departing is no surprise, but the timing is. The Rockies will reportedly hire an interim GM soon — assistant GM Zack Rosenthal and director of scouting Bill Schmidt are the likeliest candidates — before searching for a new, permanent replacement in the offseason. Both shortstop Trevor Story and starting pitcher Jon Gray will become free agents after the season, and almost certainly will not return, so the interim GM will be responsible for trading two of the Rockies’ best players before they depart Denver for only additional draft picks as compensation.

• Austin Gomber was so ineffective on Monday that manager Bud Black said the team would look more closely at video from the Giants game to see if “maybe they had something” that tipped off the batters to Gomber’s curveball. Gomber, now 1-3 with a 6.65 ERA, allowed seven hits and four walks before he got five batters out.

• Charlie Blackmon, who was scratched from Sunday’s game due to a poor start to his 2021 campaign, went 0-for-2 against the Giants with a walk, lowering his batting average to .148 on the still-young season.

• Josh Fuentes’ appearance on the mound was only the sixth for a position player in Rockies history, but in a nod to their recent struggles, four of the six instances have occurred since July of 2019.

• The Rockies’ 0-7 road record matches their worst-ever start, tying the inaugural, 1993 team.

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THE FINAL WORD

“A lot of the hits were just middle of the plate. I think it was more about execution and putting myself in bad counts. They had a good game plan.” — Austin Gomber, who gave up nine earned runs in 1 2/3 innings on Monday.

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INJURY WATCH

• Kyle Freeland (strained left shoulder) was placed on the 10-day IL on Apr. 1. He has been throwing bullpen sessions and is expected back in early May.
• Brendan Rodgers (strained right hamstring) was placed on the 10-day IL on Apr. 1. He has been practicing and could potentially return before the end of April.
• Chris Owings (left thumb surgery) was placed on the 60-day IL in mid-April and will likely be out until the All-Star break.
• Scott Oberg (blood clots) had surgery prior to the end of Spring Training. He was placed on the 60-day IL on Mar. 27 and his season is in doubt.

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STARTING LINEUP

LF Raimel Tapia
2B Garrett Hampson
SS Trevor Story
3B Ryan McMahon
1B C.J. Cron
RF Charlie Blackmon
CF Yonathan Daza
C Dom Nunez
P Austin Gomber

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Shawn Drotar is the host of “The Fan Late Night with Shawn Drotar;” weeknights from 10:00 p.m. to midnight — only on 104.3 The Fan. Follow him on Twitter at @sdrotar.

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