Rockies-Giants shapes up as Chatwood-Moore duel
SAN FRANCISCO -- Few visitors pitch better at AT&T Park than Colorado Rockies right-hander Tyler Chatwood.
Nobody has pitched better of late at the home of the San Francisco Giants than their own left-hander Matt Moore.
Something will have to give Saturday afternoon when Chatwood and Moore duel on the third day of a four-game series between the National League West rivals.
The teams have split the first two games of the series, each getting a strong pitching performance.
History indicates both will get another Saturday.
Chatwood was easily the most efficient of all visiting starting pitchers at AT&T Park last season, limiting the Giants to six hits and one run in 13 innings over two starts. He went 1-0, and his 0.69 ERA was less than half that of the next-best visitor -- Arizona's Zack Greinke (1.42) -- among all who made two or more starts in San Francisco.
For the 27-year-old California native, the 2016 success was consistent with four previous starts at AT&T in his career. He has gone 3-1 with a 2.12 ERA in that five-year stretch.
The 2.12 ERA is the fourth-lowest since 2012 among all Giants visitors with six or more starts, trailing only Greinke (1.66), Chad Gaudin (1.69) and Clayton Kershaw (1.75).
Chatwood (0-2) has yet to win this season, with one of his two losses having come on the road -- 6-1 at Milwaukee in the first series of the season.
The 12-game winner in 2016 lost only once on the road all of last season, going 8-1 with a 1.69 ERA. The road ERA was the lowest in the majors last year.
Chatwood is coming off a 5-3 home loss Monday to San Diego, a game in which he gave up two home runs. Rockies starter Tyler Anderson also surrendered two homers in Friday's 8-2 loss to the Giants.
"That's what happens in baseball," Chatwood told reporters after Monday's game. "You give up two homers and you lose the game."
If Chatwood was good in San Francisco last season, then Moore was great after settling in following an in-season trade from Tampa Bay.
Moore won his last four starts at AT&T last season, allowing only five runs in 26 innings.
He picked up right where he left off in his San Francisco debut in the opener of the current homestand Monday night, limiting Arizona to one run and three hits in a 4-1 win.
In those five starts, he has accumulated a 1.59 ERA.
Both pitchers Saturday will benefit from a key hitter missing from the opponent's lineup.
The Rockies put left fielder Gerardo Parra on the three-day paternity list Friday so that he could fly to Miami to attend the birth of his daughter.
With Ian Desmond injured and out of action, the Rockies have used Stephen Cardullo and minor-league call-up Ramiel Tapia in left field the first two games of the series. They went a combined 0-for-7.
The Giants, meanwhile, will play their fifth consecutive game without All-Star catcher Buster Posey, who was placed on the seven-day concussion disabled list after getting hit in the head by a Taijuan Walker pitch in the homestand opener on Monday.
Nick Hundley has gone 6-for-21 (.286) in his six games as the starting catcher this season.
Hundley had a hit in a four-run eighth inning that Giants manager Bruce Bochy thought was critical to Friday's win.
"It's great to add on," Bochy told reporters of the 4-2 lead that turned into 8-2. "That caught up to us a couple of times on that road trip (last week). We couldn't add on and we lost a couple of games. It was great to see us do it tonight."
