Colorado enters today at 49-74, two games behind the 51-72 Giants for fourth place in the NL West.<\/p>\n
The Rockies are bad. I know the Rockies are bad. But I am still completely invested in these guys.<\/p>\n
And for all the ugliness in the standings, there is still plenty worth caring about today:<\/p>\n
A win would give the Rockies the season series, finish their nine-game road trip with a winning record, and pull them within one game of San Francisco inside the division.<\/p>\n
The Rockies took Friday night\u2019s opener before dropping Saturday\u2019s game 7-1<\/a> after one miserable fourth inning put the Giants in control.<\/p>\n Rookie right-hander Gabriel Hughes<\/a> gets the ball for Colorado in his seventh major-league start.<\/p>\n Hughes enters at 0-4 with a 5.61 ERA, 1.28 WHIP and 31 strikeouts across 33.2 innings.<\/p>\n He posted a 3.33 ERA across 24.1 innings through his first five major-league appearances, four of them starts. Over his last two starts, Hughes has allowed 12 earned runs in 9.1 innings.<\/p>\n The underlying contact numbers remain considerably better than the ERA. Hughes owns a 3.03 xERA, while hitters have barreled only 4.1% of their batted balls against him with a 29.6% hard-hit rate.<\/p>\n Hughes throws his four-seam fastball roughly 57% of the time. It averages a little over 92 mph, though his 6.9 feet of extension helps it play a little faster, and he works five secondary pitches around it.<\/p>\n The concern lately has been his strike-throwing and ability to get hitters to expand.<\/p>\n Hughes had been at or above a 50% zone rate before falling to 41% two starts ago and 45% in his most recent outing. His fastball velocity was also down nearly a full mile per hour last time out.<\/p>\n His ability to get hitters to expand outside the zone has slipped, too. Hughes generated only a 19% chase rate in his last start.<\/p>\n When Hughes gets ahead, the secondary pitches give him enough ways to finish at-bats. The question is whether he can get back into those counts often enough.<\/p>\n The Giants counter with the recently recalled Blade Tidwell<\/a>, who enters at 0-0 with a 2.78 ERA, 1.10 WHIP, and 19 strikeouts across 22.2 innings. Today will be his 11th appearance of the season but only his third start.<\/p>\n The 25-year-old right-hander is attacking hitters very differently than he did during his 2025 debut: His sweeper has jumped from 22% usage last season to 38% this year, while the four-seamer has fallen from 39% to 34%.<\/p>\n So far, that change has shown up in how hitters are reacting to him. Tidwell\u2019s chase rate has climbed from 20.8% to 28.1%, while hitters have made contact on just 38.9% of their swings outside the zone after doing so 62.5% of the time last season. His walk rate has also fallen from 12.8% to 5.5%.<\/p>\n The sweeper was especially effective in his last outing, accounting for 12 of Tidwell\u2019s 16 swings and misses.<\/p>\n But today\u2019s matchup adds another layer to that profile.<\/p>\n Tidwell has led with the four-seam fastball 39% of the time against lefties, followed by the sweeper at 31%. Against righties, the sweeper jumps to 45% while the fastball drops to 29%.<\/p>\n Jordan Beck<\/a> is the only Rockies hitter who will bat right-handed today, giving Tidwell eight left-handed looks.<\/p>\n The early platoon results make that construction even more interesting. Left-handed hitters have an .836 OPS against Tidwell across 44 batters faced this season, compared with a .373 OPS from right-handers across 47. Those are small samples, but they give the Rockies plenty of reason to make Tidwell prove the split will not hold.<\/p>\n Colorado has been aggressive early in counts this season, but it cannot let that aggression turn into easy chases when Tidwell goes with the sweeper.<\/p>\n Hunter Goodman<\/a> remains out of the lineup after being scratched Saturday with shoulder inflammation. Zac Veen<\/a> gets another start in right field, while Adael Amador<\/a> will make his first start in the field since returning to the majors. He pinch-hit Saturday but had not appeared in the field in the big leagues since last season.<\/p>\n First Pitch: 2:05 p.m. MDT<\/p>\n Radio: KOA 850 AM\/94.1 FM<\/p>\n Giants SB Nation Site: McCovey Chronicles<\/a><\/p>\n Fewer adsCreate community posts<\/a>Comment on articles, community postsRec comments, community postsNew, improved notifications system!<\/p>\n