DENVER — Joc Pederson tried a couple of different slump-busting techniques in an effort to snap out of his nearly two-month power drought. He changed his walk-up song. He borrowed bats from former and current teammates. Turns out all he needed was a trip to Coors Field.
Pederson broke his 36-game homerless streak by launching his team-high 18th blast of the year, but it wasn’t enough to overcome a poor start from left-hander Alex Wood in the Giants’ 7-4 series-opening loss to the Rockies on Friday night.
After losing three in a row, the Giants (59-60) slipped back under .500 and stayed 5 1/2 games behind the Padres (6-3 loss to the Nationals) for the third National League Wild Card spot with 43 games left to play in the regular season.
Wood surrendered a season-high seven runs on seven hits — including two homers to Colorado designated hitter Elehuris Montero — over 4 2/3 innings, sinking the Giants into a hole from which they could not recover. They trailed, 7-0, before Pederson finally put them on the board with a sixth-inning solo shot off José Ureña for his first homer since June 25.
Pederson drove a 1-1 sinker to the left-field corner for an opposite-field blast that ended the second-longest single-season home run drought of his nine-year career. The 30-year-old slugger also went 37 games without homering from April 22-June 1, 2018, before finally breaking out of the stretch with a two-homer game at — where else? — Coors Field.
“I’ve been grinding in the cage a little bit, but I kind of want to put the statistical stuff behind me,” Pederson said. “It’s a time where we want to try to win as many ballgames as possible. Unfortunately, we lost today.”
Manager Gabe Kapler attributed Pederson’s power outage to the ebbs and flows of the season, noting that the Palo Alto, Calif., native had continued to hit the ball hard even when he wasn’t leaving the ballpark. Pederson entered Friday with a 93 mph exit velocity, which ranked in the top three percent in the Majors, according to Statcast.
“He’s a key guy for us and for our offense,” Wood said. “He brings a lot of energy and a lot of thump to our lineup. When he’s right, there are no complaints from anyone else in here. Hopefully that’s a good sign of things to come.”
The Giants managed to pull within three with a three-run seventh that was highlighted by Austin Slater’s two-out, two-run single to right field, but Pederson struck out to end the rally. After going down swinging on a slider from Rockies reliever Lucas Gilbreath to leave a pair of runners stranded, Pederson tossed his bat and helmet in a show of frustration.
“Striking out is not fun, especially with runners on base,” Pederson said. “It’s a frustrating game.”
He wasn’t the only Giant to vent his frustration on the field. Wood’s clunker extended his checkered history at Coors Field, where he’s now 1-3 with an 8.80 ERA over 12 career appearances. At one point, Wood flung his glove in the air after giving up a single to Brian Serven that beat the shift in the second.
“Just frustrated,” Wood said. “This place hasn’t been kind to me over the years.”
The bulk of the damage against Wood came via three homers from the Rockies, the most he’s surrendered in a single start this year. Montero opened the scoring with a two-run shot in the second before former Giants outfielder Connor Joe tacked on another run with a two-out homer in the fourth.
Montero took Wood deep for a second time in the fifth, sending a three-run blast out to center field to bring the 31-year-old veteran’s unforgettable night to an end.
“He just missed a few times up in the zone,” Kapler said. “That was enough. That was the difference in the game. … He’s a pitcher that’s reliant on movement. The ball moves a little bit less in this ballpark.”
“I just got mine [butt] kicked,” Wood said. “I pride myself on having starts almost all the time where whenever I come out of the game we have a chance to win. Tonight was not that night. It’s really just on me tonight.”
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