Padres Post Fifth Straigth Win, 3-1, To Sweep Colorado

The San Diego Padres got their fifth straight win as they beat the Colorado Rockies for the second straight time, 3-2, in a game that featured a combined one-run effort from six Padres pitchers to go with some timely small-ball hitting. 

The good pitching came  from a couple of surprising sources early as they continued to go with their next man up version of “pitching chaos.” Kyle Hart did the honors early with 2-2/3 scoreless innings, and Griffin Canning followed by adding more zeroes for the next three. 

That resulted in just three hits in their combined efforts, which gave San Diego a chance to build a lead. They did it with a three-spot in the fourth inning off Colorado starter Garrett Hughes, with the rally starting on back-to-back singles by Jake Cronenworth and Manny Machado and Ty France getting hit by a pitch to load the bases. 

Jackson Merrill then singled to score Croneneworth, and a groundout from Luis Rengifo plated Machado. Gavin Sheets got the third run home with a sacrifice fly to help put the Padres on solid ground with a 3-0 lead. 

Wandy Peralta was next up from the Padres bullpen, but he didn’t last long, getting just two outs. The Rockies opened the seventh with a bunt single from Willi Castro and a bloop hit over first base byTyler Freeman, but Peralta was able to get a pop up to post the first out of the inning. Bradgley Rodriguez followed with a strikeout, but a single from Brett Sullivan scored Castro to get Colorado on the board and make it 3-1.

Jeremiah Estrada got the call in the eighth, and he did have some shaky moments with a leadoff walk. But Estrada came back strong with a pair of strikeouts to hold the line and set up the Padres for Mason Miller in the ninth. 

Miller had his breaking ball going, and when that happens he’s even more unhittable than usual. That proved to be the case again as he struck out the first two hitters, then got a fly ball to center to wrap it up. 

The win streak matched the Padres’ longest of the season, and it got San Diego back over .500 at 54-53. The Padres remain 1.5 games of the final wild card berth, and they’ve now jumped the pack of teams that stood between them and a postseason appearance as recently as a week ago. The San Francisco Giants now come in for four as the Padres try to continue their run.