SAN FRANCISCO — Through the years, this city has been as cruel and hopeless as Alcatraz for the Rockies.
Now it will forever be known for “The Catch.”
No, not the 49ers’ Joe Montana throwing to Dwight Clark in the back of the end zone.
This was Rockies’ two-time Gold Glove third baseman Nolan Arenado crashing full-speed into a tarp down the third-base line Tuesday night at AT&T Park, toppling over the tarp, and then having the presence of mind to throw — from his knees, while on top of the tarp — to try and nail a baserunner.
“I don’t know if I have ever seen a better play than that,” manager Walt Weiss said. “And then he gets the throw off after that? He goes into the stands and almost doubles the guy off. Our defense has been really good, and that’s about as good as it gets.”
Asked if he watched the video of his catch, Arenado said: “Yeah, but I don’t like watching it too much, it was kind of freaky. I was just so thankful I didn’t get hurt. It was freaky. I won’t ever try to make that catch again.”
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More on “Holy Nolan’s” catch in a moment.
First the basics.
The Rockies beat the San Francisco Giants 4-1, ensuring the Rockies of winning the three-game series. Since April of last season, the Rockies (6-2, 5-0 on the road) have won seven of their last 11 games in the City by The Bay.
Once again, the pitching came through as the team opened the season 5-0 on the road for the first time in franchise history.
Colorado’s starting pitching has been a hold-your-breath, high-wire act for much of the early going.
But the pitching was effective again Tuesday night. Christian Bergman, a fill-in starter for the injured Jorge De La Rosa, shut out the Giants for four innings.
The right-hander needed 85 pitches to get there — and Joe Panik and Giants pitcher Tim Hudson both hit bombs that somehow stayed in the ballpark — but Bergman got big outs when he had to.
Case in point: the fourth inning. The Giants’ Gregor Blanco and Matt Duffy hit back-to-back singles, but Bergman struck out Hector Sanchez, got Brandon Crawford to fly out to left and then struck out Hudson.
Bergman gave up four hits, walked two and stuck out four.
“Bergy was on a pitch limit because he wasn’t stretched out, but he gave us everything he had,” Weiss said.
Bergman was relieved by right-hander Scott Oberg, who made the most of his major-league debut and ended up getting the victory. Nori Aoki had an infield single off Oberg to lead off the fifth before Oberg dispatched the heart of the Giants’ order.
“I just wanted to make sure I was ready in any situation to just do the best I could, help the team as much as I could,” Oberg said. “I think I was a little more nervous in the bullpen, warming up. Being out on the mound, (catcher Nick) Hundley was able to make sure I enjoyed it and threw strikes. (Troy Tulowitzki) came out there and said the same thing. That reassured things.”
LaTroy Hawkins, relieved as closer Monday, set San Francisco down in order in the sixth. Christian Friedrich, Rafael Betancourt and Adam Ottavino finished it off, with Ottavino getting second save of his career.
Dating to the 10th inning of the third game of the season at Milwaukee and ending in the eighth inning Tuesday, Rockies pitchers have tossed 17 consecutive scoreless innings on the road. The bullpen, which threw five scoreless innings Tuesday night, now has a combined 1.80 ERA, third-best in the National League. Opposing hitters are batting just 1.46 vs. Colorado’s bullpen.
Arenado’s 24-karat gem came in the eighth inning, when the Giants scored their only run. It ranks as probably Arenado’s greatest play — which is saying something.
He made his running, diving play in foul territory while colliding with tarp as he chased down the pop up off the bat of Blanco. Arenado then tried to nail Angel Pagan advancing to third. He nearly pulled off the double play.
“I’m glad the crowd was there, a lady kind of broke my fall, so thanks to her,” Arenado said with a laugh. “I was scared, but I’m just a little bit sore in my left leg. … I’m just so glad we won the game.”
It wasn’t a big offensive night for the Rockies, the NL’s hottest-hitting team, but they cashed in on their early opportunities. Arenado ripped a double to left to open the second inning and scored on Corey Dickerson’s single up the middle. Dickerson advanced to third on Hundley’s groundout. and then scored on Hudson’s wild pitch.
The Rockies made it 3-0 in the fourth. Dickerson and Hundley singled, setting up a perfect safety squeeze by D.J. LeMahieu to score Dickerson from third.
Patrick Saunders: psaunders@denverpost.com or twitter.com/psaundersdp
