CarGo hits 2 HRs second straight night, Rockies rout Giants
DENVER — Carlos Gonzalez followed Wednesday's power display with another impressive performance.
Gonzalez homered twice for the second straight night, Chris Rusin pitched a complete game and the Colorado Rockies routed the reeling San Francisco Giants 11-3 on Thursday.
Gonzalez hit two two-run homers to take the NL lead with a career-high 35. He finished with four hits — three to the opposite field — and drove in four runs to lead Colorado's season-high 19-hit effort.
"When you can go foul pole to foul pole it's the best you're ever going to feel," Gonzalez said. "It tells me my hands are quick enough, I don't have to worry about anything. I don't care if the guy throws 95-plus I just go to the plate with no worries."
Nolan Arenado homered for the fourth consecutive game.
Gonzalez's big night helped extend San Francisco's losing streak to six. The Giants are seven games behind in the NL West and the wild card chase.
"We're dealing with injuries," manager Bruce Bochy said. "Hard to give some guys a day who probably need a break. It showed today. I know they're trying but they're running on fumes. So I have to try to find a way to give them all a break here soon."
San Francisco was swept by the Dodgers in three one-run games heading into Thursday, but there was no drama against the Rockies.
Gonzalez, who hit a grand slam and a two-run homer in his last two at-bats against Arizona on Wednesday, went deep in the first off Ryan Vogelsong in Colorado's four-run inning. The outfielder greeted reliever George Kontos with a shot down the right-field line in the fourth to give Colorado a 9-2 lead. He has 11 RBI in his last two games.
"We've seen stuff like this from him before. I don't know about at this level," manager Walt Weiss said. "It's pretty impressive right now what he's done, especially recently. We know all about the talent. When he gets rolling it's something to see."
Gonzalez has 16 career multi-homer games in his career, including six this season which have all come since July 24. He doubled in the second and singled in the ninth ahead of Arenado's 34th homer of the season.
Vogelsong (9-11) allowed eight runs — seven earned -- and 11 hits in three-plus innings for the struggling Giants.
"I just stunk," he said. "Didn't command the heater, breaking ball was up. Just didn't throw well at all."
Rusin (5-7) bounced back from a rough outing in his last home start to go the distance. He wasn't as sharp as he was on Aug. 16 when he pitched a shutout against San Diego but he allowed three runs and six hits and struck out five.
He gave up 11 runs in two innings against the Mets at Coors Field on Aug. 22 but put that one behind Thursday. He is the first Rockies pitcher to throw two complete games at Coors Field since Aaron Cook did it in 2008.
"If you take that two-inning game away I've had three good ones in a row," Rusin said. "The only time I think about it is when (the media) brings it up. So please stop."
THIS OLD MAN
Vogelsong hit his first career home run in the third. At 38 years, 43 days, he is the oldest player in franchise history to hit his first home run.
"I knew I hit it good, but when you don't have one, you don't ever know," he said.
TRAINER'S ROOM
Giants: SS Brandon Crawford missed his third straight game with a swollen left calf. He was injured when he was hit by a pitch against the Dodgers on Monday.
Rockies: OF Corey Dickerson (right rib fracture) went 1 for 4 as the DH in a rehab assignment for Triple-A Albuquerque on Wednesday. Dickerson is tentatively scheduled to play the field for the Isotopes this weekend and could be activated early next week.
UP NEXT
Giants: RHP Chris Heston (11-8, 3.56 ERA) will try to end San Francisco's skid Friday night. Heston allowed five runs in 3 2/3 innings against the Cardinals on Sunday.
Rockies: LHP Jorge De La Rosa (8-6, 4.40) is coming off six shutout innings against Pittsburgh. He is 9-6 with a 4.05 ERA in 25 career games — 22 starts — against the Giants.
