Giants late rally falls short, bullpen falters again in loss to Rockies
SAN FRANCISCO — Even when everything goes right for the Giants’ bullpen, something still finds a way to go wrong, especially, it seems, against the Rockies.The Giants were an inning away Friday night from a relief-heavy win over their company at the bottom of the National League West for the second time in the span of a week.And for the second time, it all fell apart before they could close the door completely.Dylan Smith earned some redemption in his first outing since surrendering the go-ahead three-run homer five days ago in Colorado, escaping a bases-loaded jam with nobody out in the seventh in one of the most impressive single innings from a San Francisco reliever this season.Rafael Devers gave the Giants a one-run lead in the bottom half of the inning, and everything was setting up for a feel-good story about one of the league’s most problematic bullpens.Turns out, there’s a reason these relievers aren’t considered reliable.Tasked with closing out the one-run advantage, Caleb Kilian allowed the first three batters he faced to reach base, including a walk to pinch-hitter Troy Johnston, and allowed all three to come around to score in what turned out to be yet another agonizing loss, 4-3.It was only made more painful by the false hope in the bottom of the ninth.Colorado closer Jordan Romano issued three walks, a confusing play went in the Giants’ favor upon video review and Rafael Devers made it a one-run game with his third RBI of the night.But, even after Cole Carrigg was shown conclusively to have trapped a line drive off the bat of Casey Schmitt to load the bases with one out, Bryce Eldridge grounded out on the first pitch he saw from Romano’s replacement, Juan Mejia, who earned a one-pitch save for getting out of the fraught situation.Dylan Smith escaped an even stickier jam, entering with the bases loaded and nobody out in the sixth, but four clean innings, it turned out, was too much to ask of this group of relievers. That, however, was th...