rnier was "coming along" and he expected the injured netminder to take shots

DENVER -- Frank Morales didnt try to paint corners or make perfect pitches. Steve Nash Suns Jersey . Instead, his strategy was relatively simple: Just pitch the ball and see what happens. In this instance, a lot of good things. Morales was masterful on the mound as he outdueled Madison Bumgarner, leading the Colorado Rockies to a 2-1 win over the San Francisco Giants on Tuesday night. "Frankies a tough competitor," manager Walt Weiss said. "He was absolutely huge tonight." Morales (2-1) knew it was his night when he unleashed his first sinker and it danced all over the place. He decided right then and there that he wasnt going to be too fine with his splitter or his cutter or even his sinker, just let the pitch do what it naturally does. The hard-throwing lefty allowed five hits over seven innings, which matches the longest outing of his career. His only mistake was a hanging slider to Hunter Pence in the fifth, which he hit for a homer. "I wanted to make sure the hitter is uncomfortable with my pitches," Morales said. Bumgarner (2-2) was nearly as effective as Morales, his only slipups on fastballs to Troy Tulowitzki and Nolan Arenado, whos solo shot in the fifth put the Rockies ahead for good. Bumgarner allowed nine hits in eight innings. It was the first complete game by a Giants starter in 2014 and third of Bumgarners career. "Im not frustrated for myself. We should be winning all these games right now, but just going through a rough patch," said Bumgarner, whose team has dropped five of six. "Its just about getting out of it as quick as you can." Morales hasnt fared all that well against San Francisco in his career, entering the game with a 0-3 mark and a 6.57 ERA. But he handcuffed the Giants most of the game. He worked his way into a jam in his seventh and final inning when he allowed a two-out double to his counterpart, Bumgarner. Morales struck out Angel Pagan with a sinking cutter -- his 99th pitch of the night -- to end the threat. Morales pumped his fist and let out a scream before heading toward the dugout. "All game I was throwing only fastballs away to (Pagan)," Morales explained. "I was like, OK, its time to throw my cutter down and in. Hes not looking for that pitch." No, he wasnt. Pagan wasnt the only Giant guessing at Morales assortment of pitches. "Morales, hes just got good stuff," said Pence, who hit his second homer of the season. "A lot of life on his fastball." Things got a little shaky for Colorado in the eighth, when the Giants had runners on first and second with one out. Rex Brothers was summoned and enticed Pablo Sandoval to hit into a double play to quell the rally. Same thing with the ninth, when LaTroy Hawkins took over after Brothers got the first out of the inning. Hawkins walked pinch hitter Brandon Crawford and allowed a single to Gregor Blanco, who was also pinch hitting. Hector Sanchez, the third straight pinch hitter, struck out and Pagan bounced out to short to end the comeback bid. Arenado hit a solo shot into the seats in left to extend his hitting streak to a career-best 13 games. Hes hitting .365 during the streak, with two homers and six RBIs. Tulowitzki flashed his fielding skills in the top of the fourth and hitting proficiency in the bottom half. With runners at first and second and one out, the smooth-fielding shortstop dove in the hole to snare Joaquin Arias grounder, quickly getting up and throwing to second for a force out. That prevented a potential run from scoring. Tulowitzki then caught Ehire Adrianzas shallow fly to left to get the Rockies out of the sticky situation. Leading off in the bottom of the frame, Tulowitzki homered to left-centre. It was his third homer of the season. Mixing a 93-mph fastball with a late-moving cutter, Bumgarner kept the Rockies off balance most of the night in a hard-luck loss. "Bum pitched great. He did a real nice job," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. "Complete game, two runs in this ballpark. Thats a nice effort." NOTES: Adrianza wore jersey No. 6 instead of No. 53. ... The last Giants starter to throw a complete game in a loss was Barry Zito on June 18, 2010, at Toronto. ... RHP Matt Cain (0-3) searches for his first win of the season in the series finale Wednesday. The Rockies will throw RHP Tyler Chatwood (1-0). ... The Rockies have won five of six. ... The previous time Morales pitched seven innings was June 28, 2012, at Seattle when he was with Boston. Ty Jerome Suns Jersey . Noah finished with 13 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists in 34 minutes. He was headed for his fourth triple-double of the season, but sat down with about three minutes left because of the lopsided score. Kirk Hinrich scored 19 points for Chicago, going 5 for 6 on 3-pointers, Carlos Boozer added 18 points, D. Mikal Bridges Jersey . -- The Chicago Bears have agreed to a one-year contract with cornerback Kelvin Hayden. https://www.thesunslockerroom.com/Ty-Jerome-City-Edition-Jersey/ . "We were left with the overall impression that the team wasnt trending toward being able to compete for a Stanley Cup," Capitals owner Ted Leonsis said in a news conference at the clubs arena. "And that was just a clear signal and why it was time to make those changes.TORONTO -- Already exhausted following a long road trip and playing the second half of back-to-back games, the last thing the Toronto Maple Leafs was another emotional pitfall. Coach Randy Carlyle had already caused a stir in Detroit a night earlier by calling James Reimers play in a loss "just OK," and then the goaltender gave up a goal on the first shot he faced Wednesday against the Tampa Bay Lightning. Unfortunately for the Leafs, that was just the beginning of a long game as defenceman Paul Ranger was injured and Steven Stamkos rang up a hat trick to hand them a 5-3 loss at Air Canada Centre, their third in a row. Even after the club released an update saying Ranger was "stable, conscious and alert" after his head hit the glass on a hit from Alex Killorn and he was taken to a local hospital, there were plenty of worried teammates in the home locker-room after a defeat that dropped the Leafs three points behind the Lightning in the Atlantic Division. With that came a notion of missing an opportunity to make something out of the impossibly difficult situation of seeing Ranger go down. "You try to use that as motivation to go out there and give yourself the best opportunity to get a chance and try to use the player, Range, get it for him," Carlyle said. "And we fell short, for sure." Against the Lightning (38-24-7), falling short meant starting terribly with a goal against 59 seconds in, taking too many penalties and giving Stamkos far too much room to operate. But Killorns hit on Ranger understandably took the lions share of the attention. Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper called it "probably the turning point in the game" as his team killed off the five-minute major, while the Leafs (36-27-8) just struggled to pick their game up after watching him get wheeled off the ice on a stretcher. "We say our jobs to get ready and prepare for the next period, but thats scary," winger Joffrey Lupul said. "He obviously didnt look great when he was leaving the ice. So youre trying to clear your head and focus on the next period. But you cant lie -- obviously part of you is wondering whats going on with him." When Ranger went down, the Leafs were trailing 3-2 after Radko Gudas beat Reimer in the games first minute with a seemingly innocent shot from just inside the blue-line. Reimer didnt see the shot, and long after his Leafs came back to take the lead on goals by Phil Kessel and Nikolai Kulemin, Carlyle didnt blame his goalie for that one. "The first goals kind of (a) fluke," Carlyle said. "What do you do? Its a seeing-eye shot, theres a screen, it hits a post and goes in. So you cant get too unravelled by that." Reimer, who gave up five goals on 30 shots, didnt unravel, but a lack of discipline and the Leafs defence was to blame for Stamkos scoring twice in the first period and then completing the hat trick early in the second. An interference penalty on David Clarkson led to the first goal, and there were missed assignments on all three. For Stamkos, who was playing in just his seventh game since returning from a four-month absence after breaking his right leg, called getting the natural hat trick in front of family and friends the highlight of his season. "I was a little disappointed there was no hats on the ice," the Markham, Ont., native said. "I guess Ill take it anyway." Though he couldnt be blamed for any of the three goals Stamkos scored, Reimer couldnt take many positives out of his performance. Because Jonathan Bernier remains out with a groin injury, Reimer became the first Toronto goalie to start on back-to-back days this season, and this wasnt the result he wanted when thrust into that situation. "I just want to come out and play well and kind of be a difference-maker, and unfortunately it wasnt the case," Reimer said. Tyler Johnson Suns Jersey. "I thought I made some good saves, but it definitely wasnt the performance I was looking for. I wanted to come out and be big and keep your team in it, and that didnt happen tonight." Reimers failings, notably on the first goal, paled in comparison to the other drama and blunders that tormented the Leafs against the Lightning. Six minor penalties led to two power-play goals by the Lightning -- the first by Stamkos and the second one in the third from linemate Tyler Johnson -- which wound up being enough to make the difference. "A lot of things come down to special teams," Cooper said. "Weve had our ups and downs all year. For us to kill off all those penalties, especially the five minutes and then get two power-play goals. Thats how youre going to win. Thats how youre going to win down the stretch and get into the playoffs." With the victory, the Lightning, who got 36 saves on 39 shots from Vezina Trophy candidate Ben Bishop, moved ahead of the Montreal Canadiens for second place in the Atlantic Division. The Leafs, who at 71 games have played the most of any team in the Eastern Conference, held onto the first wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference but lost a major opportunity to pick up points. Reimer lamented not doing that more than being unable to cover up the fire storm that surrounded him. "It doesnt really matter how you play or how people talk about how you play as long as you get points," he said. "As tough as things go or as good as things go, you can play a great game and still lose. The big thing is points, so as far as statement games or whatnot, I think really at this time of year its just about your team and about getting your team points, not necessarily about you making a statement." Stamkos, who scored his three goals on his only three shots of the night, made a statement that hes back and capable of carrying the Lightning. Cooper was looking forward to seeing how the 24-year-old would fare in his "backyard," and he didnt disappoint. "Theres special players out there that find a way, they have that innate ability to rise to the occasion," Cooper said. "For Stammer to come back in here to his hometown and do what he did tonight, basically put the team on his shoulders, I cant say enough about (him)." And the Leafs couldnt say enough about how things went wrong, especially when it came to not containing one of the leagues best in Stamkos. "We were getting exposed," Lupul said. "There were times today where we were good, other times we made some errors getting the puck out of our zone, once by me and then a couple times we let their best player get the puck in an area where we cant do that." And then there was a lack of desperation early on that only came in the second half of the game and showed up when Jake Gardiner cut the deficit to one with 12:40 left. Giving half of what was necessary was not enough. "I felt that our desperation level went up for the last 30 minutes of the game," Carlyle said. "Weve got to do a better job than that." NOTES -- Kessels goal was his 35th of the season, two short of his career high. ... Gardiners goal was his fifth in the past seven games and 10th of the season. ... Killorn was given a game misconduct along with the five-minute major for boarding Ranger, whom the Leafs said was taken to a hospital for a "precautionary assessment." ... Toronto goaltender Jonathan Bernier skated Wednesday morning for the first time since suffering a groin injury almost a week earlier in Los Angeles. Carlyle said Bernier was "coming along" and he expected the injured netminder to take shots during practice Friday. ' ' '