Bullpen blows Kyle Harrison’s scoreless effort

DENVER — In two career starts here, Kyle Harrison looks to be the exception to the rule. With five more scoreless frames to begin the Giants’ second half schedule Friday night against the Rockies, the 22-year-old left-hander now hasn’t allowed a run in 12 career innings in the league’s least friendly pitching confines.

To the Giants’ detriment, however, Harrison’s success wasn’t contagious and their bullpen returned to Coors Field’s regularly scheduled programming.

It took a team effort for the bullpen to blow the three-run lead handed to them in a 7-3 loss that started the second half on a sour note.

Randy Rodríguez surrendered a two-run home run that pulled the Rockies within one run in the sixth, Ryan Walker allowed them to plate the tying run in the seventh after a leadoff double and a throwing error by Matt Chapman, and Tyler Rogers served up a towering go-ahead homer in the eighth.

The bottom two teams in the National League West standings will meet six more times over the Giants’ next 12 games.

The Giants had one bounce go their way, when left fielder Sean Bouchard whiffed on a diving attempt that led to a two-run triple from Thairo Estrada, but were also dealt a bout of bad luck, when Brett Wisely’s surefire extra-base hit ricocheted off the first-base umpire and into the glove of Colorado’s first baseman.

But mostly they were left kicking themselves over their own missed opportunities, going 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position and stranding eight men on base.

With the bases loaded and two outs in the eighth, manager Bob Melvin stuck with Michael Conforto when Rockies manager Bud Black called on left-handed reliever Jalen Beeks despite having Luis Matos and Wilmer Flores at his disposal, and Conforto struck out to end the inning.

Harrison departed after five innings holding a 3-0 lead, courtesy of Estrada’s second-inning triple and an RBI groundout the following inning from Patrick Bailey, but the bullpen proceeded to let it wilt away over the ensuing three innings.

Despite only entering the game as a pinch-hitter in the seventh inning, Jake Cave doubled and scored off Walker in the seventh and slugged the go-ahead, three-run home run off Rogers in the eighth.

Harrison struggled to find the strike zone at times, issuing four walks and hitting a batter, and the Rockies ran his pitch count up to 93 force him from the game. But he struck out six and surrendered just one hit while becoming the third Giants pitcher since 2016 to complete five or more scoreless innings in the league’s least friendly pitching confines.