Giants fall to Rockies 6-1

SAN FRANCISCO - Slumping Ian Desmond homered and drove in four runs to back another strong start by Kyle Freeland and the Colorado Rockies beat the Giants 6-1 on Friday night.

Desmond came into the game in a 3-for-33 rut with one RBI in his previous nine games before providing the offensive boost that improved the Rockies to 18-9 on the road.

The night didn’t start off well for Desmond, who hit into fielder’s choice with a man on third and one out in the second to cost Colorado a chance to score. But he quickly made up for it by hitting a three-run homer in the fourth inning against Derek Holland ?(2-5) and then adding an RBI double in the sixth.

That was more than enough support for Freeland (4-4), who allowed a leadoff homer to Gorkys Hernandez and nothing else in 6? innings to win for the fourth time in his past five starts. Freeland allowed five hits and struck out five, lowering his ERA to 1.59 in his last five starts.

Charlie Blackmon added a two-run homer in the ninth for Colorado.

Nolan Arenado started the first two rallies for the Rockies, drawing a leadoff walk in the fourth inning and hitting a double to lead off the sixth. The five-time Gold Glove winner also made a spectacular play in the field at third base when he slid into foul territory to stop a hard grounder and then threw Kelby Tomlinson out from his knees with a strong throw across the diamond.