​The San Francisco Giants knew they were in for a tough battle with the Colorado Rockies in a four-game series at Oracle Park that began on Thursday night. But San Francisco came out ready to swing, fueling their offense early and often. With Colorado’s pitching staff bearing the brunt of the damage and a few timely homers finding the seats, the Giants crafted a convincing 8-2 victory.
Casey Whisenhunt, who had just been recalled from the Triple-A Sacramento River Cats, earned the win in a start he made in place of Robbie Ray. Giants manager Tony Vitello has Ray slated to start Friday night’s second game of the series. Whisenhunt delivered 5.2 innings of work to improve his season record to 2-0. He allowed three hits, surrendered two earned runs, walked four, struck out four, and gave up a home run. Dampening the Rockies’ push, relievers JT Brubaker and Eric Schmitt secured holds in their relief efforts, while Caleb Kilian came on in a non-save situation to finish the job and keep Colorado off the board.
For Colorado, Ryan Feltner took the defeat, dropping to 3-3 on the year after 4.1 innings of work. He was charged with six hits, four earned runs, four walks, three strikeouts, and two homers by the Giants. Victor Vodnik worked 1.2 innings in relief of Feltner to limit the San Francisco offense from mounting further threats.
The turning point came when Rockies manager Warren Schaeffer sent TJ Shook to the mound to try to keep the game within reach at 4-2. In two innings of relief, Shook allowed six hits, four earned runs, one walk, and three strikeouts, also giving up a home run. The Giants promptly pounced on the opportunity when Willy Adames launched a three-run homer off Shook in the bottom of the eighth, extending San Francisco’s lead and lighting up the scoreboard.
Boxing the ball in early, Casey Schmitt opened the scoring with a first-inning solo shot, his 18th homer of the season, giving the Giants a 1-0 lead. Colorado answered in the top of the fourth when Willi Castro connected for a two-run homer, swinging the momentum in their favor at 2-1. But San Francisco answered back swiftly in the bottom of the fourth, retaking the lead as Bryce Eldridge belted his eighth homer, a long blast that cleared the right-field wall and sailed into McCovey Cove—an homage to Giants legend Willie McCovey.
In the fifth, Luis Arraez lined a double that plated Drew Cavanaugh, restoring a 3-2 advantage for the Giants. Rafael Devers contributed an RBI single later in the frame, pushing the score to 4-2 and cementing San Francisco’s lead. From that point on, the Giants never relinquished control.
The action didn’t stop there in the eighth. Shook’s night ended with San Francisco eyeing an even larger margin, as Schmitt’s double drove in Arraez to extend the lead to 5-2. Adames then followed with his own two-run homer, amplifying the score to 7-2 before the Giants tacked on one more run to make it 8-2. Despite San Francisco’s continued offensive pressure—finishing 4-for-10 with runners in scoring position and leaving 11 runners stranded—their six-run eighth inning provided the necessary cushion to seal the win.
As the home team, the Giants leveraged a strong offensive showing—bolstered by early and late-inning power—and a solid pitching performance from Whisenhunt to outpace the Rockies. The win underscored San Francisco’s capacity to respond to early deficits with big inning bursts, a formula that bodes well for the remainder of the series as they aim to capitalize on their home-field advantage at Oracle Park.