Austin Gomber watches in awe as 21-year-old Ezequiel Tovar continues to dazzle day after day.
Tovar hit a go-ahead three-run homer in the seventh to help Gomber win his third straight start, and the Colorado Rockies ended an 11-game losing streak to San Francisco by beating the Giants 5-2 on Friday night.
“That’s huge. He’s special man,” Gomber said. “Sometimes when we’re at home and I see his birthday on the scoreboard I remember how young he is.”
Tovar connected off Tyler Rogers for his ninth homer, batting leadoff for just the second time in his career after previously doing so June 25 against the Angels. Taylor Rogers (4-3) was the loser.
Tovar is a new father playing his first full major league season. He smiled and joked how, “I guess I’m a little old.”
“I’m try to have fun every day,” he said through an interpreter. “Like they say it’s a kid’s game. I treat it that way. My mom always tells me to go out there and have fun and that’s what I try to do.”
PHOTOS: Tovar hits 3-run homer, Gomber wins third straight start as the Rockies beat the Giants 5-2
Center fielder Brenton Doyle corralled a shallow fly in the sixth with runners on the corners and threw out Austin Slater at home to save a run, sending Gomber into celebration mode.
Brandon Crawford hit a tying two-run homer in the sixth for his first since April 29 against the Padres in Mexico City - and the NL-leading 20th surrendered by Gomber (7-7), who allowed just those two runs on five hits over six innings. Crawford has 28 career homers against Colorado.
Ryan McMahon hit a two-run homer in the first as Colorado snapped a four-game skid and 10-game road losing streak. After Jake Bird and Justin Lawrence each pitched a scoreless inning of relief, Daniel Bard finished for his first save.
They Rockies hadn’t beaten the Giants since a walkoff victory last Aug. 20 - the second-longest winning streak for either of the clubs ever facing each other.
Kris Bryant faced the Giants for the first time since spending the second half of the 2021 season with San Francisco to help the club win a franchise-record 107 games and the NL West.
Bryant singled up the middle on the seventh pitch he saw from Ross Stripling with one out in the first.
Stripling was done after 3 2/3 innings in his second start and third outing overall since missing more than a month with a lower back strain. Facing the Rockies for the first time since Aug. 23, 2020, with the Dodgers he struck out three and didn’t walk a batter.
The Giants swept a three-game set from June 6-8 at Coors Field, and Colorado has gone 5-15 in San Francisco’s waterfront ballpark since 2021 getting outscored 103-56.
PANDA RETURNS
Pablo Sandoval received a rousing standing ovation when announced before the bottom of the third. He is in town for a signing event Saturday. He was thrilled to be back in the ballpark for a night and reflected on the every-other-year World Series titles the Giants captured in 2010, ‘12 and ’14.
He’s taking a break from baseball for now and is in a positive place, but hasn’t formally retired.
“I’m good, I’m sleeping good, my body and my mental health,” he said.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Rockies: LHP Brent Suter (right oblique strain) and RHP Antonio Senzatela (sprained pitching elbow) will throw bullpen sessions Saturday. … LHP Kyle Freeland’s decrease in velocity isn’t considered to be from anything physical and manager Bud Black expressed no concerns.
Giants: Top prospect LHP Kyle Harrison, who had been in the big league plans for sometime in 2023, suffered a moderate right hamstring strain Wednesday while training between starts and won’t participate in the Futures Game. … President of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi said the hope is that 2B Thairo Estrada - expected to be sidelined 4 to 6 weeks after being hit by a pitch Sunday - might be ready to return from a fractured left hand not too long after the All-Star break but it’s hard to know for sure until he picks up a bat again. … RHP John Brebbia (right lat strain) is slated to begin a throwing program next week. … RHP Anthony DeSclafani, dealing with fatigue in his throwing shoulder, is set to pitch a bullpen Saturday.
UP NEXT
RHP Connor Seabold (1-5, 6.62 ERA) will try to snap a three-start losing streak in which he has allowed 21 earned runs over 13 innings with eight homers. RHP Ryan Walker (2-0, 2.57) starts for San Francisco.
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