Tony Vitellos moves pay off as Giants end horrid first half on positive note vs Rockies

SAN FRANCISCO — In a first half where just about everything has gone wrong, it’s worth pointing out when the Giants’ rookie manager does something right.And Tony Vitello pushed all the right buttons Sunday afternoon to ensure his down-and-out squad entered the All-Star break on a winning streak, no matter how meager.It raised eyebrows when Vitello took the ball out of Trevor McDonald’s hand after he cruised through seven innings, and the manager made another curious choice deciding against pinch-running for Rafael Devers, who represented the go-ahead run.Guess what: The Giants bullpen kept the Rockies at bay, the pudgy first baseman hustled first to third on a knock from Bryce Eldridge, and then he scored the decisive run in a 3-1 win.With wins in their final two games of the first half, the Giants took three of four from the Rockies, improved to 13 games below .500 entering the break and ended an immensely disappointing first portion of the season on a positive note.Before Devers got things started in the eighth against Antonio Senzatela with a walk, the Giants had mustered so little against the worst pitching staff in the majors that it almost looked like they would allow arguably McDonald’s strongest, inarguably his most efficient effort of his career go to waste.The only run yielded by any Giants pitcher came on McDonald’s second pitch of the game, which Jake McCarthy turned into an inside-the-park home run.He went on to complete seven innings, allowing only four other batters to reach base, on only 73 pitches.That made it a surprise when Keaton Winn emerged from the bullpen to begin the eighth inning, and the plan almost faltered when he issued a two-out walk, but Vitello then called on Erik Miller to gain the platoon advantage against Mickey Moniak, who struck out to end the inning.Vitello apparently didn’t want to risk repeating what happened the last time Devers was lifted for a pinch-runner, though the situation didn’t quite mirror the mish...