DENVER (AP) - One of the items on Tim Hudson’s baseball bucket list is a win at Coors Field.
Well, rain made sure that didn’t happen Thursday as Hudson’s day was cut short. It was still a long afternoon for everyone else, though.
The game between the Colorado Rockies and San Francisco Giants was suspended after the second rain delay, with the score tied 2-2 in the bottom of the sixth inning.
A makeup date was still being determined. The Giants next visit to Coors Field is Sept. 1-3.
When the game resumes, though, the Rockies will be at the plate with two outs and Michael Cuddyer on first after his third single.
Hudson showed no lingering effects from a strained left hip that caused him to skip his last start. The righty wiggled out of several jams as he went three innings, giving up one run and five hits.
Then, the storms hit and his day was done. Hudson was feeling a little winded, too, given the thin air in the Mile High City.
“Ten days off not pitching at game speed can be challenging from a stamina standpoint,” said Hudson, who is 0-2 at this hitter friendly park. “It’s kind of hard to catch your breath out here, too.”
Nolan Arenado was hoping they would figure out a way to play, even with the field a muddy mess and more rain on the horizon.
“If it looked good, I wish we would’ve kept playing,” the slick-fielding third baseman said.
That’s the thing - it didn’t look good.
Although the skies looked less ominous, the field was saturated. The grounds crew dumped bags and bags of diamond dry on the infield just to try and make it playable.
But after an 82-minute delay before the fourth and another stoppage two innings later for 84 minutes, it was a big undertaking. The commissioner’s office had finally seen enough and informed crew chief Bill Miller to suspend it.
“The field took a lot of water,” Miller said in a statement. “It was going to take 45 minutes to get ready and another storm was forecast to hit. … Both managers agreed it was best.”
No reason to risk injury, especially after the Giants had two pitchers strain hamstrings the day before - on a dry field, no less.
“It just made sense,” Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. “This is the smartest thing to do.”
Wilin Rosario tied the game at 2 when he hit into a double play in the fifth.
Hunter Pence had a solo homer for the Giants in the fourth and Pablo Sandoval drove in another run with a double later in the inning.
Sandoval also had a solo homer overturned by a challenge in the second. He lined a shot down the left-field line that was ruled a homer, sending Sandoval trotting around the bases as left fielder Corey Dickerson repeatedly pointed that the ball was foul.
Manager Walt Weiss challenged the call and it was changed. Sandoval stepped back into the batter’s box and flew out to center.
“I didn’t think it was fair, but it was blowing out,” Sandoval said. “That’s part of the game.”
Fans were ushered out of their seats and sent to the concourse area as a storm rolled through the city, complete with lightning, heavy rain and even a brief tornado warning for the vicinity. The second wave of weather wasn’t nearly as severe.
Neither starter returned after the first stoppage.
Jorge De La Rosa was cruising along, too, not allowing a hit and striking out three in three innings. The hard-throwing lefty has been bothered by a balky back and given the length of the delay, the Rockies went to the bullpen.
He understood the decision.
“With this weather, I think it’s the best thing they take me out,” said De La Rosa, who’s won five straight decisions.
NOTES: The Giants placed RHP Santiago Casilla (strained right hamstring) on the disabled list Thursday and recalled RHP George Kontos from Triple-A Fresno. … The Giants will give starter Matt Cain (strained right hamstring) a “couple of days and re-evaluate once we get back to San Francisco,” Bochy said. Cain felt a twinge in his hamstring after his final pitch in the third before leaving Wednesday’s game.
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