Machado homers twice, but Padres fall 9-6 in Colorado
Credit: Padres
Denver, Colorado
The Rockies (36-32) beat the Padres (33-36), Thursday night in Colorado, extending the Padres losing streak to five games. Jon Gray (6-5) and a powerful Rockies’ line up overcame Manny Machado’s two solo home runs and the return of Padres’ starter Matt Strahm (entering the game 2-5, 4.03 ERA, 4.12 FIP) from the Injured List.
The Padres started quickly against Rockies starter Gray (entering the game 5-5, 4.27 ERA, 4.33 FIP) as the Frias opened with Tatis and Hosmer hitting back-to-back doubles and getting a single from Manny Machado. Hunter Renfroe singled, Franmil Reyes struck out, and Wil Myers singled before Austin Allen struck out to end the top of the first inning.
Strahm gave up three runs on three singles and a two-out double in the bottom half of the first inning to give up the lead to the Rockies. Trevor Story hit a two-out, two-run home run in the second to push the Rockies’ lead to 5-2. The home run was his 16th of the year.
Manny gets in on the early action!@Padres | #FriarFaithful pic.twitter.com/Fs4JoVN0O3
— FOX Sports San Diego (@FOXSportsSD) June 14, 2019
Strahm helped himself in the fourth inning, getting his second single of the game to move Wil Myers to third. Myers then scored on Greg Garcia’s fielder’s choice to Arenado, who failed in an attempt for a 6-4-3 double play to erase Garcia.
Charlie Blackmon homered to center field leading off the bottom of the fourth, his 13th of the year. A one-out walk to Dahl ended Strahm’s night. Strahm gave up six runs on seven hits and four walks in 3 1/3 inning. He threw 87 pitches in his first action since June 2nd, striking out four.
Machado hit his 11th home run of the year on a laser to left-field in the fifth inning, his first since June 3rd and second in the last 26 games. Machado went opposite field for his 12th home run with two outs in the ninth. It was his second 2-home run game of the year, the last coming on May 4th against the Dodgers in Petco Park.
Blackmon hit his 14th home run of the year, and second of the game against Geraldo Reyes in the sixth.
Tatis led off the seventh inning with a triple to the right-field corner. Hosmer brought Tatis home with a ground out to second, closing the lead to 7-5 Rockies.
The Padres defense was hindered by questionable play. In the first, Garcia couldn’t get a ground ball out of his glove that could have been started a double play. Reyes’ had the third inning double drop in front of him after moving backward initially. In the sixth, Tatis scoped up a tough groundball up the middle, but his spinning throw to first skipped into the seats, moving the runner to second. In the seventh, Tatis threw wide to first base, pulling Hosmer off the bag, and requiring a replay to check on Hosmer’s great footwork to make the out. An out later, Tatis failed to scope up a groundball up the middle that he got his glove on. A walk to pinch-hitter Raimel Tapia brought Padres Manager Andy Green out of the dugout. Matt Wisler came in to face Blackmon with two outs. Blackmon lined a low slider down the first base line, driving in two runs with a stand-up triple, putting the Rockies up 9-5.
Outta here in a hurry ?#FriarFaithful pic.twitter.com/bhtqhzykvW
— San Diego Padres (@Padres) June 14, 2019
There were bright spots for the Padres. Myers had his first three-hit game of the season. Allen ended the fourth inning by throwing out Dahl trying to steal second. Hosmer made a fine stop on a hard hit ball to prevent a run in the third, and his stretch to get Tatis’ errant throw was the type of play that the Padres expected when they signed the Gold Glove first baseman. Reyes had an amazing diving catch to end the eighth inning, perhaps his best defensive play of the season.
The Rockies totaled 13 hits, with at least one base runner reaching in every inning. Gray struck out ten without giving up a walk. For the game, the Padres struck out 12 times, with no walks. Five Padres pitchers combined to give up six walks against eight strikeouts.
The Padres and Rockies continue their four-game series this weekend. Cal Quantrill (1-2, 4.85, 4.07) starts for the Padres. Jeff Hoffman (1-3, 8.06, 4.74) will pitch for the Rockies. The Padres are now 1-5 against their division rivals on the season.
