Antonio Senzatela’s most important pitch came early.

Senzatela worked out of a first-inning jam en route to throwing seven scoreless innings in his first start of the season Carlos Dunlap Jerse , Nolan Arenado hit his National League-leading 22nd home run and the Colorado Rockies beat the San Francisco Giants 8-1 on Tuesday night.

Colorado’s Charlie Blackmon had three hits, including his first homer since June 20. Trevor Story had an RBI triple for the Rockies, who have won five of their last six games.

D.J. LeMahieu added a run-scoring double for Colorado, which has beaten the Giants in 14 of the past 16 games at Coors Field dating to Sept. 7, 2016.

Senzatela, recalled earlier in the day from Triple-A Albuquerque, struck out four and walked none while limiting the Giants to three hits but two of them came in the first inning. He got out of the two-on, two-out jam by retiring Pablo Sandoval, getting him to pop-out on a 2-0 changeup.

”To get out of that inning with a zero, stranding those runners, was huge,” Senzatela said through a translator. ”I settled down pretty nicely and I’m glad I gave the team a chance to win.”

Arenado said Senzatela’s ability to work out of first inning trouble helped set the tone for the rest of the game.

”Getting out of that first inning with no runs was huge,” Arenado said. ”I feel like sometimes we always give up a run in the first and lately they haven’t. He was just great, pounding the zone, throwing strikes getting ahead of guys. It was awesome. Our pitching in general lately has been huge for us and I think that’s why lately we have been playing better.”

Senzatela started in the spot vacated by struggling Jon Gray, who started for the Rockies in their season opener but was optioned to Albuquerque last weekend.

Senzatela (3-1) made the team out of spring training and began the season in the Rockies’ bullpen before being optioned on May 2 to Albuquerque, where he went 3-1 with a 2.15 ERA in eight starts prior to his recall. As a rookie last season Patriots Danny Shelton Jersey , Senzatela had most of his success as a starter, going 10-5 with a 5.03 ERA in 20 starts.

Chris Stratton (8-6) went 5 2/3 innings and allowed eight runs on 11 hits, including Blackmon’s solo shot in the first inning as well as Arenado’s three-run drive.

”His fastball command wasn’t real sharp tonight,” Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. ”Fastballs missed their spots there. That’s usually his forte, he commands it so well. He threw some good fastballs to Arenado and the changeup stayed in the middle. He wasn’t real sharp with his command. He threw strikes but he needed to work the edges.”

The Giants broke through for a run on Alec Hanson’s RBI single in the eighth off reliever MikeDunn.

The Giants were trailing 3-0 when Arenado broke the game open in the fifth with a three-run homer. Stratton walked LeMahieu to start the inning and Blackmon singled before Arenado drove a 3-2 offering over the left-center field wall.

GIANTS NEMESIS

Arenado has driven in 90 runs in 100 career games against the Giants, the second most among active players. Matt Kemp leads with 93 career RBIs against the Giants. Said Arenado: ”I think they bring out the best in all of us. They bring out the best in me – three World Series rings and they’ve always been one of the top tier teams in our division. It’s always a tough place to play and I always want to beat them because I always feel like they’ve beaten us in the past, a lot.”

TRAINER’S ROOM

Giants: The team’s starting rotation is nearing full strength again. Manager Bruce Bochy said that RHP Johnny Cueto is slated to be reinstated from the 60-day disabled list on Thursday, when he’s scheduled to start against the St. Louis Cardinals. Cueto was placed on the DL, retroactive to April 29, because of a right elbow sprain. RHP Jeff Samardzija is slated to start Saturday’s game against St. Louis after being reinstated from the 10-day DL. Samardzija went on the DL after leaving a May 30 start against Colorado following one inning due to tightness in his pitching shoulder.

Rockies: RHP Chad Bettis has gone on the 10-day disabled list with a blister on his right middle finger. Bettis left his last start on Sunday against the Los Angeles Dodgers after three innings because of the finger injury. Senzatela was recalled from Albuquerque to fill Bettis’ roster spot and started Tuesday against the Giants in the place of RHP Jon Gray, who was optioned Saturday to Albuquerque.

UP NEXT

Giants: LHP Andrew Suarez (3-4, 4.18 ERA) is coming off a strong outing in which he allowed one run on seven hits over six innings in a 2-1 win against Arizona.

Rockies: LHP Tyler Anderson (5-3, 4.23 ERA) has gone 1-3 with a 5.26 ERA in eight previous starts at Coors Field this season.

CLEVELAND — Another day, another roster move involving the Cleveland Indians‘ bullpen. Prior to their 6-3 win over the Chicago White Sox on Tuesday, the Indians placed reliever Evan Marshall on the 10-day disabled list with right elbow inflammation.

To replace Marshall on the roster, the Indians selected the contract of reliever George Kontos from Triple-A Columbus.

Wednesday afternoon at Progressive Field, the Indians and White Sox will play the final game of their three-game series.

Kontos Patriots Jason McCourty Jersey , 33, started this season with Pittsburgh, for whom he made 21 relief appearances this year, going 2-3 with a 5.03 ERA and one save. He was designated for assignment on May 25 and was signed as a free agent by the Indians on May 25. In six appearances with Triple-A Columbus, Kontos pitched 7 2/3 scoreless innings, allowing seven hits, with six strikeouts and no walks.

When he gets into a game Kontos will become the 17th different relief pitcher used by the Indians this season.

“With the new guys, we want to get them settled, and I want to familiarize myself with them as quickly as I can,” said Indians manager Terry Francona, who admits that it’s a challenge for newly-acquired pitchers to be comfortable.

Many of the relievers the Indians have used were released by other teams.

Francona says he is mindful of the pressure the new relievers face when they join the team.

“When guys are pitching for their baseball life, it’s harder on them,” Francona said. “When (closer) Cody Allen has a bad inning, he knows he’s going to be here the next day. The other guys, when they have a bad inning they know they might get sent down or designated for assignment. That makes it hard.”

Fortunately for Francona and those relievers, the Indians’ starting pitcher Wednesday usually makes it an easy day for the bullpen. Reigning Cy Young Award winner Corey Kluber (10-3, 2.24 ERA) will be on the mound for Cleveland.

Kluber Patriots Trent Brown Jersey , however, is coming off his worst start of the season in his last outing, a 6-3 loss to Minnesota on Friday. Kluber lasted just five innings, giving up four runs on four hits, with three strikeouts and one walk.

That one walk was significant because it snapped a streak of six starts, 46 1/3 innings and 169 consecutive batters faced by Kluber without a walk. The four runs allowed by Kluber snapped his streak of 14 consecutive quality starts to begin the season, the longest such streak by an Indians pitcher in 100 years.

Kluber’s last start against the White Sox came on May 30 of this year, a 9-1 Cleveland victory in which Kluber got the win by pitching six scoreless innings on three hits, with 10 strikeouts and no walks. In 21 career appearances against the White Sox Kluber is 10-4 with a 3.05 ERA.

Kluber’s mound opponent on Wednesday was his mound opponent in that May 30 game between the two teams — Reynaldo Lopez (2-4, 3.26).

In that loss to Kluber, Lopez pitched 2 2/3 innings, giving up seven runs on eight hits with two strikeouts and one walk.

Lopez’s last start was a 4-3 White Sox loss to Detroit on Friday. Lopez, who did not figure in the decision, pitched six innings, allowing three runs on nine hits with three strikeouts and no walks. In two career starts against Cleveland, Lopez is 0-2 with an 8.31 ERA.

The Indians come into Wednesday’s game having won three in a row while the White Sox have lost six in a row.