SF Giants win again thanks to Ford Proctor's grand slam and Carlos Rodón's latest gem

SF Giants second baseman Ford Proctor blasted a grand slam for his first career homer, and that was enough with Carlos Rodón on the hill.

The SF Giants won their fourth consecutive game on Thursday, defeating the Colorado Rockies 6-4, sweeping the final series of the year between the NL West rivals and keeping their slim postseason hopes alive.

Rookie second baseman Ford Proctor was the Giants' offensive hero of the night, the versatile defender who the Giants acquired from the Rays in a trade earlier this season, blasted the first big-league homer of his career in the second inning. Facing off against Rockies starter Ryan Feltner with one run in, the bases loaded, and nobody out, Proctor took a first-pitch sinker from Feltner that caught too much of the middle of the plate the other way and sent it over the left-center field wall for a grand slam.

Already leading 5-0, that was more than enough offense for Giants ace Carlos Rodón.

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What more can be said about Rodón at this point in the season? The southpaw has easily been one of the five best pitchers in the National League this season and, for the first time in his career, has maintained this elite level of performance late into the regular season. Rodón already set himself up for a massive contract this offseason, but he's looked as good as he has at any point this year in September.

Rockies hitters once again looked out of their league against Rodón's arsenal. His mid-90s fastball continued feasting up in the zone, and he even located his slider and curveball well throughout the outing. Rodón needed just 91 pitches to rack up 10 strikeouts over six shutout innings. He allowed just two hits and zero walks. He now has a 2.88 ERA on the season, and 233 strikeouts in 178 innings pitched (both are career highs).

Giants outfielder Austin Slater doubled in the seventh inning and eventually scored on a sacrifice fly by Wilmer Flores to extend the Giants lead to 6-0.

Recently acquired righty Jharel Cotton replaced Rodón in the top of the seventh inning and allowed just one baserunner over his first two innings of work. Giants manager Gabe Kapler gave Cotton a chance to finish out the game, and earn a save, but the Rockies generated a one-run rally against him in the ninth that pushed him to his 60-pitch limit on the day.

Then... things got dicey.

Kapler brought in John Brebbia to record the final out, but the righty promptly gave up a two-run homer to Rockies left fielder Sean Bouchard that cut the Giants lead to 6-3. Then, Brebbia surrendered a single to Michael Toglia and double to Elehuris Montero, which brought the Rockies within two runs. With the tying run coming to the plate, Kapler called on closer Camilo Doval, who ended the rally by retiring Rockies top prospect Ezequiel Tovar.

Despite their ninth-inning bullpen hiccup, the SF Giants are somehow back at .500. They have both won and lost 78 games this season. They will begin their penultimate regular-season series on Friday against the Arizona Diamondbacks with first pitch scheduled for 7:15 PM Pacific at Oracle Park.