Rockies Look For Series Split After Second Loss To Padres
SAN DIEGO (AP) — Padres rookie right-hander Brett Kennedy wasn't dominating, just effective.
"He was missing barrels," San Diego manager Andy Green said. "There was a lot of soft contact."
Kennedy pitched six strong innings, and Franmil Reyes, Luis Urias and Wil Myers all homered to lead the Padres to a 7-0 win over the Colorado Rockies on Friday night.
Kennedy (1-2) had his longest outing in six career starts, giving up four hits, two walks and hitting a batter. He struck out two as the Padres won their season-high fourth straight game while starting rookies in each of the wins.
"Definitely a great feeling and definitely nice that we played great, put up a lot of runs and played some great defense," Kennedy said. "When you can put together a game like that and get your first win, it's a great feeling."
Reyes, who had a walk-off shot in the 13th inning Thursday night, went deep in the fourth inning. Urias added his first career homer, a two-run blast, in the five-run eighth, which preceded Myers' long fly.
"It feels great," Urias said. "I'm so happy that I got my first homer."
With the loss the Rockies fell into third place in the NL West, but remained 1 1/2 games behind the division-leading Diamondbacks.
The Padres' bullpen, which allowed one earned run in seven innings of relief Thursday, was keen once again. Matt Stahm and Phil Maton pitched one inning each and Rowan Wick, making his major league debut, got the final three outs.
Colorado didn't have multiple baserunners aboard until the sixth inning. The Rockies were struggling so bad they asked Nolan Arenado, who has more RBIs (545) than any player since 2014 and 91 this year, to sacrifice bunt when Carlos Gonazalez opened the sixth with a walk.
Arenado advanced Gonzalez to second, but he was stranded. Galvis snagged Trevor Story's liner and David Dahl struck out.
"We definitely feel like we're better than what we've been doing," Story said. "We just really had that big hit with runners on."
Kennedy was on his game.
"I tried not to do too much," said Kennedy, a Padres 11th round pick in 2015. "In the first inning I just said I'm going to make pitches and whatever happens, happens. Today it felt like the first day I was pounding the strike zone and getting some bad swings."
Kennedy doesn't have a power arm, instead relying on location with his curveball and slider to upset batters' timing.
"He got inside enough to keep them honest," Green said.
The Rockies have gone 16 straight innings in the series without scoring against the Padres.
"The last two nights we haven't done it," Colorado manager Bud Black said. "I think the only way that we can look at is the big picture. We're in a pennant race, we've had two rough nights offensively, we've pitched well until the eighth inning."
Antonio Senzatela (4-5) pitched six innings and gave up a run and four hits.
Galvis provided an additional cushion in the seventh when he drove in Austin Hedges with an RBI single off reliever Seunghwan Oh. Hedges reached on a one-out double.
Reyes, who is only four homers off Hunter Renfroe's team-high 17, struck again with a laser to left-center in the fourth inning. Senzatela presented a center-cut, 93 mph fastball and Reyes, a call-up from Triple-A El Paso on Aug. 4, didn't let the mistake get by. It extended the rookie outfielder's hitting streak to six games and he has gone deep in nine of his last 10 contests. Over that span he has four homers and a double.
TRAINER'S ROOM
Padres: RHP Bryan Mitchell (elbow) will come off the disabled list and get the start in Monday's game at Arizona. Mitchell last pitched on June 6.
UP NEXT
Rockies: RHP Jon Gray (10-7, 4.76) has seen Colorado win four of his five starts since returning from Triple-A Albuquerque on Aug. 5. Gray is 7-3 in 14 career starts against the Padres, which includes a 3-1 mark this year.
Padres: LHP Robbie Erlin (3-4, 3.69) will make his seventh appearance and second start against the Rockies this year in the third contest of the four-game series. He's pitched to a 2.61 ERA with the Rockies hitting just .205 against him. He went five innings, allowing three runs and five hits at Colorado in a start on Aug. 21 for the win.
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