San Francisco Giants Head to the Mile High City to face Rockies

Game 1: Andrew Suarez vs. Chad Bettis

One thing that’s always really interesting to look at with Rockies pitchers is their Home/Road Splits. Bettis has been a major victim of the altitude, as his ERA is almost five points higher at home than on the road. For Suarez, a pitcher that gets rocked on the long ball when he’s off, it’ll be difficult as well.

While those in AAA get to make occasional trips to Colorado Springs (Brewers’ AAA), that ballpark plays nowhere near to the offense that you experience at Coors. We’ll see what happens, but the bullpen better be ready.

Bettis has Brandon Crawford‘s number, as he’s hitting .100 in 20 AB’s, but Belt has Bettis’ number on the flip side, hitting .438. Other than that, the Giants’ success against him in the past has been pretty neutral.

Game 2: Jeff Samardzija vs. Kyle Freeland

This one could be concerning for Giants fans. Last year, Samardzija’s two starts at Coors Field knocked his ERA up to 4.42. If you eliminate those starts, his ERA was 3.98. That’s telling. With his struggles so far this year, that can’t inspire much confidence going into this game.

An intriguing part about Freeland’s game is that his home ERA is actually the better of his splits, and it’s not particularly close. However, he has faced close to double the hitters on the road than at home. So that might mean he’s about somewhere in the middle.

Para and Arenado are the two guys with the ownage on Samardzija for the Rockies, while the Giants have some ownage on Freeland from A-Jax, Blanco, and Hundley. Interesting. So we’ll see what happens.

Game 3: Derek Holland vs. Jon Gray

One of Derek Holland’s best outings of the season came against the Rockies in San Francisco. He has an ERA under four in his last three starts, while boasting the only pitcher to average more than six innings over the last three starts. Weirdly enough, he’s been the Giants’ most reliable pitcher of late, in one of the many turns that we’ve experienced in 2018.

Jon Gray on the other hand has had a rough year. He obviously has an ERA better on the road than home, but it’s not that great either. Righties hitting against him at home have a .325 average, and lefties are still sitting pretty at .270. The Rockies have been bad at home 9-12 compared to 19-13 on the road.

Gray doesn’t have a whole lot of appearances against Giants hitters, and neither does Holland against Rockies hitters. It will be an interesting rubber match if it splits the first two games.