DENVER • Chad’s hot start has Kuhl’d off. 

Kuhl, who signed a one-year deal with the Rockies in March, posted a 1.82 ERA through his first five starts with the team. But his start last week against the Giants trended in the opposite direction: five runs in 4⅔. And Tuesday wasn’t any better. 

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“You make 33 of them, you are not going to be spotting the ball every single outing,” manager Bud Black said. “I think the command of the fastball and the breaking pitches, and a few changeups, was not like what we say when he had that run.”

Kuhl barely made it three innings, leaving behind a 6-1 deficit as the Giants went on to beat the Rockies 10-7. Just looking at the score, things didn’t seem all that bad for the Rockies on Tuesday. But they were down 8-2 for majority of the game, and only got within a mile of the Giants because of a five-run sixth inning that included a three-run home run from Randal Grichuk. 

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The Rockies have now lost 12 in a row to the Giants, tied for the second-longest losing streak against a single team in franchise history. They’ve been outscored 95-41 during that stretch. After playing better than expected in the first month of the season, getting off to a 15-11 start, the Rockies have now lost nine of their last 11 to fall into last place in the National League West.

As for Kuhl, he faced a very similar Giants lineup just a week ago, and the hope was that his second start against the NL West foe would go better. That wasn’t the case. His night was essentially over before it even began, as Tommy La Stella smoked the second pitch of the game 464 feet for a solo home run. Kuhl was never able to recover. 

The third inning was the kicker. Brandon Belt got on base after Brendan Rodgers messed up a routine play — his second error of the night — as defensive mistakes continue for the Rockies. The Giants then nicked Kuhl for five hits to jump out to a 6-1 lead. 

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“They did a good job,” Kuhl said of the Giants lineup, which has the potential to be one of the best in the league. “Two strikes, hanging on, battling pitches. They hit good pitches. … Overall with the amount of pitches I threw, I’d probably throw the same pitches again, and we’d be having a different conversation.”

Now the Rockies had to turn to their bullpen to eat up innings for the second night in a row. On Monday, they used up both of their long relievers after Antonio Senzatela left the game in the third inning with a back strain. The next closest long man they had was Jhoulys Chacín, the longtime Rockie who impressed in his return to Denver a year ago. But he has not been able to replicate that same success this year, and Tuesday was no different. He gave up two runs in his two innings, bringing his ERA up to 8.31. Justin Lawrence, back from Triple-A, didn’t fare much better. He started his night with two strikeouts before giving up two runs. 

“We have to pitch better,” Black said. “That’s what it takes.”