San Francisco Giants manager Gabe Kapler is living in the moment with his rotation, holding off on naming starters until he figures out what his club needs.
There was some speculation he would go with Kyle Harrison on Thursday, but Kapler wasn’t ready to call up the left-hander from Triple-A. Instead he is going with veteran right-hander Alex Cobb in the finale of a three-game series in Denver against the Colorado Rockies.
Cobb (5-2, 2.71 ERA) will face right-hander Chase Anderson (0-0, 1.69), who will make his fifth start since joining the Rockies last month.
San Francisco has won the first two games of the three-game set. The Giants rallied from down 4-0 to prevail 5-4 on Wednesday night, their 10th straight win over the Rockies dating back to last season.
Cobb is a wise choice, considering his record against Colorado despite an elevated ERA. In four career starts vs. the Rockies, he is 3-0 with a 5.25 ERA, and all but one of those wins — and outings — have come in Denver. He has a 6.27 ERA at Coors Field, which has vexed many quality pitchers.
It has been an oasis for hitters, though, as Giants catcher Patrick Bailey discovered in his Denver debut on Tuesday night. The rookie went 3-for-5 with two doubles and a triple, just missing a home run in the fifth inning of San Francisco’s 10-4 win.
He felt the effects of the thin air and wasn’t in the starting lineup on Wednesday, but he entered as a sub and drove in the winning run with a safety squeeze in the eighth inning.
“It’s definitely the reputation,” Bailey said of Coors Field. “That’s correct, I’d say. It’s definitely hitter-friendly. I was out of breath a lot of the game, a lot of the time on bases. But they’ve got those cool little oxygen things. Those are fun. First time I’ve ever used them. They work.”
The Rockies are 3-1 in four starts made by Anderson since they claimed him off waivers from the Tampa Bay Rays on May 12. Despite not having a decision yet, he has been a stopper of sorts in the middle of the rotation.
He credits the Rays with helping him turn things around.
“I think with Tampa, that organization is really good at finding out your strengths pretty quickly and really simplifying the approach,” Anderson said recently. “I think that’s helped me mentally to know what pitches to go to when I’m on the mound when I need to.
“I spent some time with them (Rays) last year in Triple-A at Durham in August and then the short stint in the big leagues this year. I have nothing but good things to say about Tampa. They’ve helped me out a lot on the pitching side.”
Anderson, who began this season in the Cincinnati Reds’ minor league system, has not faced the Giants since April 2021, when he was with the Philadelphia Phillies. He is 3-3 with a 4.74 ERA in 10 career starts against San Francisco.
–Field Level Media
