Following a close 3-1 win against the Rockies, the Padres battled recorded 12 hits in a tense 7-4 loss. 

A night after a 3-1 win against Colorado, the Padres took an early lead, but the altitude and the Rockies’ offense flipped the script. 

Michael King took the mound for San Diego, coming off 7.2 innings of one-hit baseball in Milwaukee. At first, it seemed that his performance would translate to the high altitude, as King had three solid innings to start the game. 

The Padres offense seemed to click into gear early, with two first-inning runs against Rockies starter Ryan Feltner. Jake Cronenworth laced a 98-mile-per-hour line drive to left field to score Xander Bogaerts, and a sac fly by Jurickson Profar would drive in a second run. The Rockies would bring in a run in the second when, after a walk and a double, Nolan Jones would break out of an 0-for-26 slump with a bloop RBI single to left field, making it a 2-1 game. 

San Diego would add two more in the third with two outs. Ha-Seong Kim singled and stole second, and Luis Campusano lined a double to right center field (just out of the reach of right fielder Sean Bouchard) to score Kim. Jackson Merrill would add to his MLB-leading .412 batting average on the road with an RBI single to center field to make it a 4-1 Padres lead. 

King returned to the mound, hoping to keep it a 4-1 game. It would, in fact, not remain that way. After a leadoff single, an error by Jake Cronenworth would put two on with nobody out. Brenton Doyle would single to load the bases to bring up Brendan Rodgers. After getting ahead 0-2 on two fastballs, King would throw a third fastball up and in, but the ball caught just a bit too much plate, and Rodgers would turn on it to turn the game upside down.

Now leading 5-4, Colorado would load the bases again against King, and while King would strike out Elias Diaz, he would walk in another run to end his outing. Stephen Kolek would end the inning with a groundout, which makes King’s final line six runs (four earned) on eight hits, with three walks and five strikeouts over 3.2 innings. 

The Padres would be stifled by the Rockies bullpen, an unheralded strength of this Colorado team. Jalen Beeks would record three scoreless innings against the Padres on 32 pitches, punching out two and walking one. Ezequiel Tovar would single in another run against Kolek to make it a three-run lead for the Rockies. Adrian Morejon would keep the game at three runs over 2.1 innings of shut-out baseball, his longest outing of the year. Morejon would strike out three batters along the way, looking as sharp as he has been throughout the season. The San Diego bullpen did their job, holding the deficit at three going into the ninth. 

Colorado turned to Justin Lawrence to close the game, and the Padres put four balls in play across four batters. The exit velocities went as follows: 98.1, 102.8, 102.3, and 87.4 Unfortunately, only one of those resulted in a hit, with Jurickson Profar flying out to left field to end the game, making it a 7-4 loss. 

Worth Noting:

• Rockies outfielder Nolan Jones exited the game with back tightness after striking out against Adrian Morejon. He may not be able to play tomorrow. 

The series continues tomorrow at 5:40 pm Pacific. Matt Waldron starts for San Diego, while Colorado has yet to announce a starter.

Diego Garcia

I am a proud lifetime San Diegan. Currently a student at San Diego State, I’ve been a Padres & baseball fan my entire life, and have been involved with baseball (be it writing, coaching, content creation) continuously since 2018. I’m big on baseball statistics, statistical analysis, and sports strategy.

Outside of sports and baseball, I’m a musician and aspiring music educator residing in San Diego