Padres 9, Rockies 3: The kids played well, but the bullpen blew it in the seventh

The Rockies dropped the second game of the series, falling 9-3 to the Padres. Chad Kuhl hit an important milestone and “the kids” had a good night, but it wasn’t enough to overcome a seventh-inning bullpen collapse.

That’s Kuhl

Chad Kuhl had a solid outing, limiting the Padres to three runs on six hits. He walked two and struck out five. And on his second strikeout of the night, he hit an important milestone: career strikeout number 500! I would show you the video of him striking out Trent Grisham, but Twitter suspended @RoxGifsVids in the middle of the game.

These kids, they are fun!

The Rockies youngsters had fairly good games, themselves. Ezequiel Tovar notched his third hit of his career (but also, unfortunately, notched his first two career MLB strikeouts). Michael Toglia went 0-for-3 with three strikeouts, but produced a great web gem in the third to nab Juan Soto (I wish I could show you, but as I said, Twitter suspended @RoxGifsVids).

Sean Bouchard also hit his first career double (which I also can’t show you because Twitter suspended @RoxGifsVids). And Brian Serven threw out Trent Grisham trying to steal second, and broke up a near-immaculate seventh inning (still can’t show you because Twitter suspended @RoxGifsVids).

Of course, grizzled veterans Ryan McMahon (27) and Randal Grichuk (31) showed them how it’s done. Mac got things started with a solo shot in the first:

And Grichuk followed it up with an eighth-inning rally homer:

(36-year-old Charlie Blackmon also hit a single in the eighth, but was stranded at first.)

Notably, though: of the seven hits by Rockies hitters in the game, four of them came from “the kids” in the early innings — Tovar (1), Bouchard (2) and Serven (1).

About those late innings...

While the early innings were close, 3-2 after five, the bullpen blew it wide open in the seventh. Justin Lawrence came in to relieve Kuhl in the sixth and immediately got Grisham to strike out. He induced a ground-out with Austin Nola, but then gave up four straight baserunners — Jurickson Profar double, Juan Soto walk, Manny Machado walk, and Jake Cronenworth two-run single.

Lawrence was relieved by Chad Smith, who gave up a sharp single to Brandon Drury to load the bases, but then walked Josh Bell to score Machado. Ha-Seong Kim singled to score Cronenworth and Drury, and then Grisham grounded into a force out and subsequently caught stealing to mercifully end the inning. Smith did, however, come back in the eighth to pitch a 1-2-3 inning against Nola, Profar, and Soto.

Alex Colomé pitched the ninth inning. He faced four batters and walked the second one, but kept the Padres off the board.

Up Next

The Rockies will mercifully finish out their 2022 home season tomorrow against the Padres. Kyle Freeland (9-10, 4.38 ERA), who opened the season for the Rox, will pitch against Padres’ righty Mike Clevinger (6-7 4.23 ERA). First pitch is at 1:10pm MT (before the Broncos game). See you then!