Padres 4, Rockies 1: Solid pitching and shaky offense to kick off a long trip in San Diego

The Colorado Rockies lost game one of a five game stretch against the San Diego Padres to kick off their road trip. The Rockies pitching was largely solid, but the offense just couldn’t make anything work in a 4-1 loss. The Rockies fall to 48-56 with just one more sleep until the trade deadline.

A shaky start and a Senzational finish

Rockies starting pitcher Antonio Senzatela did not have a fun first inning against the Padres tonight. Jurickson Profar took him deep on just the second pitch he threw, while Manny Machado hit a double and Jake Cronenworth drew a walk. An RBI groundout and a single that took a bizarre bounce off the bag at first plated another two runs for the Padres. The third out of the inning came on a pickoff by Elias Díaz at first. It wasn’t looking good for Senzatela to make it deep into the ballgame. However, something clicked after that rough first inning and Senzatela was nails for the rest of the night. He allowed just two more hits over the next five innings and tallied five strikeouts. Senzatela finished the night with six complete innings with five hits and three earned runs. He walked three batters, which breaks his streak of 28 consecutive games with two or less walks. It had been the longest active streak in the majors.

Offense didn’t catch their flight

An anemic Rockies offense kept the game well out of reach despite the deficit never being more than three runs. The Rockies scored just one run despite seven hits, going 1-for-6 with runners in scoring position and leaving seven men stranded. Rockies batters did not draw a single walk and struck out eight times. CJ Cron was the lone member of the lineup with multiple hits. Cron hit a double in the fourth and a single in the sixth, but would be left stranded both times. Brendan Rodgers drove in the Rockies’ lone run of the night in the top of the sixth on a sacrifice fly with José Iglesias at third. Rodgers also extended his hitting streak to seven games with a single that took a lucky bounce off a glove in the top of the ninth. Randal Grichuk had a tough game by going 0-for-4 with three strikeouts.

Bullpen was bendy but solid

Carlos Estévez had the seventh inning for the Rockies in relief of Antonio Senatela. He struck out his first batter, but then got unlucky. Trent Grisham got a hold of a 98 MPH fastball low and outside and muscled it to left-center for a solo home run, widening the deficit to three. He quickly disposed of the next two batters on just three pitches. Jordan Sheffield worked in the eighth inning where he struggled with command but ultimately came up with a scoreless frame. Sheffield induced a ground out to start the inning but walked two straight batters after that. With a smart heads-up play, Sheffield picked off a wandering runner at second base and then threw strike three to the batter at the plate to end the inning.

Coming Up Next

The Rockies will play two games tomorrow as part of a double header. The day game will start at 2:10 PM MDT with José Ureña on the mound versus an undisclosed San Diego starter. The night cap will be played at 8:10 PM MDT and Ryan Feltner is expected to start for the Rockies with the San Diego starter still TBD.