Giants P Rodriguez to start in DH vs. Rockies

The San Francisco Giants plan to recall right-hander Dereck Rodriguez and start him in the second game of a doubleheader against the Colorado Rockies in Denver on Monday.

Rodriguez (3-5, 5.27 ERA) was demoted to Triple-A Sacramento on July 1 after struggling in back-to-back relief appearances against the visiting Arizona Diamondbacks.

Rodriguez, the son of Hall of Fame catcher Ivan Rodriguez, made seven relief appearances in June, posting a 10.38 ERA for the month.

"He's been throwing the ball better than what's happened," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said.

Rodriguez began the season as a starter but hasn't filled that role since allowing four unearned runs and five hits in five innings of a 7-0 loss to the visiting Cincinnati Reds on May 10.

The Giants hoped his time at Sacramento would help build him back up toward handling a starter's workload.

"We wanted to keep our depth in the rotation and we were losing that with him (as a reliever)," Bochy said.

A solid effort by Rodriguez could bump left-hander Drew Pomeranz out of the rotation.

Pomeranz (2-9, 6.42 ERA) went 17-6 with the Boston Red Sox in 2017, but is a combined 4-15 over the past two seasons with Boston and San Francisco.

After a horrendous month of May in which Pomeranz went 0-3 with a 19.16 ERA, he showed some improvement in June, including three starts in which he went five innings and didn't allow an earned run. But he took a step back in his first start of this month, allowing four runs and six hits in four innings of a 9-4 loss to the visiting St. Louis Cardinals on July 5.

Jeff Samardzija is set to start the first game for the Giants.

Samardzija (6-7, 4.01 ERA) is coming off seven shutout innings in a 1-0 win against the Cardinals on July 7.

His only loss in his past four starts came against the Rockies on June 26, when he gave up five runs and three hits in five innings of a 6-3 loss in San Francisco.

Samardzija is 5-7 in his career against Colorado with a 3.97 ERA.

The Rockies plan to send right-hander German Marquez to the mound against Samardzija.

Marquez (8-4, 4.45 ERA) was matched against Samardzija on June 26 and earned the win after allowing three runs (two earned) and seven hits over five innings. He went six innings and allowed four earned runs in each of his past two outings, going 0-1 in those games.

"The second half is going to be good," Marquez told reporters after his final start before the All-Star break. "I'll finish strong. It's not how you start, it's how you finish."

The Giants and Rockies each won two of three in their first series back from the All-Star break.

The Giants won their rubber game on Sunday at the Milwaukee Brewers, blowing the game open with a six-run seventh inning and cruising to an 8-3 win, but third baseman Evan Longoria had to leave the game because pain from plantar fasciitis in his foot became too unbearable for the three-time All Star.

He told reporters after the game he plans to have an MRI on Monday morning, but he didn't rule out playing in at least one game of the doubleheader.

The Rockies won their rubber game against the Reds on Sunday, taking advantage of a six-run fifth inning in the 10-9 win.

--Field Level Media