The Padres dropped Friday’s series opener against the Colorado Rockies, 7-3, at Coors Field.
The task of beating basement dwellers continued to be an ongoing issue for the Padres (69-54). With Friday’s win, the Rockies have clinched the season series over the Padres (7-4) with two games remaining.
Matt Waldron, Padres starting pitcher, also prolonged his struggles. With a 6.84 ERA in the first two innings, Waldron coughed up four runs in the first inning including an RBI single by Ryan McMahon and a three-run HR by Brendan Rodgers.
“Not necessarily,” Padres manager Mike Shildt said when asked if he notices Waldron’s early struggles. “He’s been good in the first two. He’s been clean early, but if he has a tendency to have a bigger inning it’s usually early.”
Playing in higher elevation, Waldron wasn’t able to consistently get his knuckleball which resulted in him using his arsenal of other pitches.
Padres Ha-Seong Kim cut Colorado’s lead in half following his two-run HR in the second inning. The Rockies (45-78) quickly punched back with their own two-run HR by Charlie Blackmon in the inning.
Second baseman Xander Bogaerts scored the Padres third and final run of the evening off a solo HR to left field in the fourth inning. Even though the team allowed six runs and managed to score three on their own, the Padres left some chances on the table.
The Padres were unsuccessful at scoring runs against the worst pitching team in the league. The Stars like Jurickson Profar, Manny Machado and Jake Cronenworth struggled as they combined for only one hit.
With runners in scoring position, the Padres went 0 for 8 and left a total of 10 runners on base. Other scoring opportunities were silenced, grounding into four double-plays that took place during the first, third, sixth and ninth innings.
“It was a big part of it,” Shildt said when asked if the double plays made the difference. “We have a good situation early on, double play raised… we couldn’t get that proverbial big hit to break it open or to get back in it.”
Waldron is credited with the loss bringing him to a 7-10 record with 4.29 ERA. In his 25th start, Waldron pitched 5 ⅔ innings allowing seven earned runs on nine hits with six strikeouts.
However, Rockies starting pitcher Cal Quantrill (8-8, 4.59 ERA) earned his second career win against his former team.
With the Padres and Diamondbacks losing, the two are tied for second place in NL West and are 3 GB from the Dodgers, who won on Friday. As well, Arizona and San Diego hold the first two wildcard spots and are ahead of the Braves (third wildcard spot) by +4.5 GB.
“We’re not naive to the fact we still got six weeks left in the season. We know every game counts, but the reality with this club is the mentality of every game counts started the first game of the season. And that’s the beautiful, wonderful trade about this club. It’s just normalized,” said Shildt.
The series will continue in the Mile High City on Saturday at 5:10 p.m. as Dylan Cease (11-9, 3.41 ERA) will take the mound for the Padres. The Rockies named Kyle Freeland (3-4, 5.75 ERA) as their starting pitcher.
In two previous meetings going 1-1 with a 2.84 ERA, Cease has allowed four runs on six hits with 16 K’s in 12 ⅔ innings. This will be the first time that the Padres will go against Freeland this season.
