The San Francisco Giants hope Matt Chapman remains hot when they go for a three-game sweep of the visiting Colorado Rockies on Sunday afternoon.
Chapman has four doubles, three singles, seven runs and an RBI in the first two games of the series.
The first-year Giant has had at least three hits in each of the wins, after opening his San Francisco career with just one three-hit outing in the team’s first 45 games. He has raised his average from .206 to .236 in the process.
Chapman was a popular free-agent signing by the Giants in large part because of his history with the Oakland A’s, for whom he twice finished in the top seven in American League Most Valuable Player balloting in five seasons.
Chapman and Luis Matos (11 RBIs this series) have helped the Giants put together their best two-game offensive stretch of the season the past two games. San Francisco set a season high in runs scored in its 14-4 win Saturday. The Giants’ 32 hits in the first two games of the series raised the team batting average from .238 to .247.
“Now you’re seeing what he has to offer,” Giants manager Bob Melvin said of Chapman, who is 7-for-8 in the series. “This is who he is. He’s made a nice career for himself. We were lucky to get him.”
Right-hander Jordan Hicks (3-1, 2.44 ERA) is scheduled to start Sunday. He was the winning pitcher in an 8-6 victory in the finale of the Giants’ series at Colorado last week, allowing three runs in five innings. He is 2-1 with a 4.97 ERA in eight appearances (one start) against the Rockies.
The Rockies hope right-hander Dakota Hudson (1-6, 6.13) will start to turn things around in the series finale. He has a 3-1 record with a 3.33 ERA in seven career games (five starts) against the Giants.
The 29-year-old won his first decision of the season during the Rockies’ 5-4 win at San Diego on Monday. He gave up three runs in 5 2/3 innings. In his previous start, he gave up four runs in 3 2/3 innings during a 5-0 loss to the Giants.
Rockies manager Bud Black thought he saw a different version of Hudson in San Diego than he had earlier in the season.
“He had a good breaking ball. That was the key for him,” Black said. “He threw more curveballs than in his previous starts, so there was a little separation in velocity between the fastball and his breaking pitches. He also got a couple of outs with the changeup. He actually threw a lot of (different) pitches.”
Hudson and Hicks were teammates with the St. Louis Cardinals from 2018 until last July, when Hicks was traded to the Toronto Blue Jays.
–Field Level Media
