DENVER -- After two mop-up appearances, Hunter Strickland pitched in a third successive game Thursday, this time in a crucial situation.
He retired one of the four batters he faced in the ninth and gave up the game-losing run as the San Francisco Giants fell 10-9 to the Colorado Rockies.
That Strickland was available to pitch was somewhat puzzling to Giants manager Bruce Bochy. A hearing was held Tuesday to appeal Strickland's six-game suspension, the result of a May 29 pitch that hit Washington's Bryce Harper in the hip and resulted in Harper charging the mound and punches being thrown.