The San Diego Padres came to Coors Field expecting a slugfest, but they ended up winning an historic pitchers duel.
The San Diego Padres went into this season without an established ace, but that might not be the case if last night’s starter, Randy Vasquez, keeps pitching like one. Vasquez upped his record to 2-0 with seven shutout innings last night against the Colorado Rockies, and the win was the Padres 14th victory in their last 16 games.
It was also just the fourth 1-0 win for a visiting team in Coors Field history, according to Owen Perkins of MLB.com, and while Padres relievers Jason Adam and Adrian Morejon were pivotal late in the game, this one was all about Vasquez, who struck out five and gave up just three hits while throwing 84 pitches and lowering his ERA to 1.88.
“It was fantastic,” manager Craig Stammen said of Vásquez’s performance. “It’s hard to pitch like that at Coors Field. He did a tremendous job of throwing strikes. Kept his pitch count down. Got a lot of swing-and-miss. Just an outstanding outing from Randy.”
Stammen definitely knows just how hard this is. According Perkins, Stammen made his Coors debut back in 2009 for the Washington Nationals, and he threw seven innings and lost a 1-0 game. But Vasquez let just one Rockies hitter get to second, as Ezequiel Tovar stole second in the second inning after getting hit by a pitch.
It was also Vasquez’s first road start of at least seven innings, which represents a big step up.
“I was just trusting my game plan and executing my pitches,” Vásquez said through team interpreter Pedro Gutierrez. “I knew that they swing early in the at-bat, so I just tried to locate my pitches.”
Coors Field innings are often hard-fought battles, but Vasquez ignored the conditions and made the necessary adjustments.
“Altitude or not, I don’t focus on that,” Vásquez said. “With the cutter and the changeup, I adjust a little, if necessary, but if they’re working like today, it’s not really a concern.”
Padres hitters didn’t give Vasquez much to work with, however. His mound opponent was Chase Dollander, who entered the game after opener Jimmy Herget threw an inning, and Dollander proceeded to shut down San Diego until the sixth inning.
Jake Cronenworth keyed the rally with a hustle double, and the Padres capitalized on Dollander’s moment of wildness when Manny Machado walked with the bases loaded after Jackson Merrill got hit by a pitch.
“That was huge,” Stammen said. “It's just momentum, because early in the game there was a stagnant atmosphere. We weren't getting anything going. We struck out on the side. Their pitchers had us in a tailspin.
“Jake gets one through the hole, and then like he always does, hustling everywhere, gets that double and made us feel like, ‘All right, we can score a run here.’”
Machado praised the pitcher’s efforts, as he had to battle to get that pivotal walk.
“It was a good pitch, up and away,” Machado said. “I wasn't really gonna do much with that. He threw the ball really well. He struck out, I don't know how many. He got us in the corner, and we got up.”
The other surprise of the evening was Stammen turning to Morejon for his first save of the season, as the Padres gave Mason Miller the night off after his busy weekend against the Los Angeles Angels in Anaheim. The series continues tonight with Walker Buehler on the mound for the Padres to oppose Tomoyuki Sugano for Colorado.