Ryan McMahon hit a clutch three-run home run in the bottom of the 8th off of Emilio Pagan to give the Rockies the lead and the win in an up and down game against the San Diego Padres. The bullpen stepped up after a lackluster performance by Jeff Hoffman to hold the Padres scoreless over the last four innings and secure the victory in the simulated home opener.
Clutch hitting
Rockies batters showed resilience early in the game scoring their first two runs with two-out hitting. With two down in the second, Ryan McMahon doubled and then scored on a Tony Wolters single. Again in the third, Charlie Blackmon doubled and then scored when Nolan Arenado doubled in the next at-bat to take a 2-1 lead. The biggest clutch hit of them all came in the bottom of the eighth when Ryan McMahon hit a home run and gave the Rockies the lead for good. McMahon was 3-for-4 on the day with two runs scored and three RBI.
Myers hearts Coors Field
Wil Myers tends to hit very well against Rockies pitching and today was no exception. Myers drove in all five runs for the Padres with a triple to open up scoring in the second and then a three-run home run in the fourth inning to give the Padres a 4-2 lead. His day also included a sacrifice fly which put the Padres up 5-3 in the sixth. Rockies pitchers will need to find a way to tame the bat of Myers throughout the remainder of the series.
Up and down start from Hoffman, fantastic bullpen
Hoffman pitched well at times going through the order 1-2-3 in the first, third, and fifth innings. But he was unable to strand runners and allowed four of five base runners to score. The final line for Hoffman was 5 IP, 5 R, 4 ER, 4 H, 1 BB, 5 K. After Hoffman’s exit, the bullpen shined with quality innings by Carlos Estévez, Jake McGee, Tyler Kinley, and Wade Davis. Kinley struck out the side in a 1-2-3 eighth and Davis was very solid in the ninth to get the save.
Another Catcher Injured
Tony Wolters was pulled in the middle of an at-bat during the top of the seventh and replaced by Drew Butera. He’ll be missing some time with a lat muscle strain and has been placed on the Injured List. This means Drew Butera and Dom Nuñez will be doing the heavy lifting behind the dish for the next few weeks.
SIMULATED TRANSACTIONS
— bkouchnerkavich (@bkouchnerkavich) April 4, 2020
- Tony Wolters has been placed on the 10-day Injured List with a lat muscle strain
- Dom Nuñez has been recalled from Triple-A Albuquerque
Game Video
You can watch the entirety of this game on YouTube here.
Up Next
The Rockies will look to go 2-0 on the season at Coors Field tomorrow at 6:15 PM MT when they face the San Diego Padres in Game 2 of the series. Antonio Senzatela will take the mound facing off against Garrett Richards. You can catch the action again on YouTube.