Rockies’ squander big night by C.J. Cron in 6-3 loss to Giants

Slugging first baseman C.J. Cron and lefty starter Kyle Freeland produced as they have for much of the season.

But the Rockies’ duo got precious little help from its supporting cast in a 6-3 loss to the Giants on Tuesday night at Coors Field.

Cron hit a solo home run in the sixth off of Sean Hjelle to finally get the Rockies on the scoreboard and added a two-run double off the center-field wall in the eighth, cutting San Francisco’s lead to 5-3. He also singled in the first inning and finished the night a triple shy of the cycle.

But take away Cron’s power supply and Colorado’s offense was lackluster. The Rockies had 10 hits but finished the night 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position.

Colorado put two base runners on in the ninth on a single by Randal Grichuk and a walk by Alan Trejo, but Ryan McMahon flew out to Austin Slater down the left-field line in foul territory. Slater made a terrific sliding catch to end the game.

Cron’s homer was his 29th of the season, leaving him one shy of the career-high 30 he hit for Tampa Bay in 2018. His three RBIs gave him 101, the first time in his career he’s reached triple digits.

Freeland certainly pitched well enough for the Rockies to win the game. He allowed three runs (just two earned) on five hits, with four strikeouts and one walk over six innings.

Freeland lowered his ERA to 4.38, not stellar by any means, but easily the best among all of Colorado’s starters. And as the season winds down, the left-hander is pitching well, having given up two or fewer earned runs in each of his last five starts, good for a 1.84 ERA over that span.

Tuesday night, Freeland deserved a better line and a better fate. In the third, Joey Bart led off with a sky-high flyball to left field. Yonathan Daza ran under the ball but it glanced off his glove and Bart ended up at third. Bart subsequently scored on Mike Yastrzemski’s two-out single. Bart was originally credited with a triple but the official scorer later change the call to an error on Daza.

The only inning in which Freeland got rocked was the Giants’ two-run sixth. Slater, Thairo Estrada and Evan Longoria torched Freeland with three consecutive triples.

The Giants packed the game away with a two-run seventh off of right-hander Jake Bird. David Villar led off with a 424-foot homer to left, then Bart singled and scored on Austin Slater’s double to right field.