The San Diego Padres abused the Rockies the fourth straight game, but they also lost key starter Nick Pivetta.
The San Diego Padres rolled to their fourth straight win over the Colorado Rockies, 7-2, although the series sweep did come with an ominous dark cloud as starter Nick Pivetta left the game after just three innings with an apparent injury.
The Padres jumped out to an early lead off opener Jimmy Herget, as scheduled Colorado starter Kyle Freeland was scratched due to shoulder soreness. The runs came on a pair of sacrifice flies, the first from Manny Machado, the second from Felix Fermin.
Ty France added to the lead with a solo homer in the third, but the Rockies came back to make it 3-3 after an RBI double by Sullivan plated two off of reliever Kyle Hart.
But that was as close as Colorado got. Manny Machado singled in Merrill Jackson in the fifth, and another home run from Ramon Laureano with France on base extended the Padres lead to 6-2 in the sixth inning. A solo shot from Merrill capped off the scoring in the seventh to put this one well out of reach.
Offensive consistency aside, the other key to this one was the Padres relief crew, as they picked up Pivetta nicely after the starter left. David Morgan got the win as he pitched 1-2/3 innings of scoreless relief, and Wandy Peralta and Bradgley Rodriguez followed with a scoreless inning each.
The series was a huge disappointment for the Rockies, who came into this one at 6-6 with hopes of being competitive in the NL West. Instead they leave at 6-10, tied for last in the division with the struggling San Francisco Giants.
The Padres now have a rejuvenated offense, with some of their primary players starting to hit. Machado, Merrill and Xander Bogaerts are all above the Mendoza line after a rough opening stretch, and Fernando Tatis is the most strangely productive player of all. He caught fire after being moved to second base, and coincidentally or not, Stammen’s decision to try him there seems to have worked.
The pitching staff is another matter entirely, however. The bullpen was overextended once again today, and Stammen has to know he can only go to that well so often as San Diego’s homestand continues on Tuesday night against the Seattle Mariners.
The biggest question, though, is Pivetta. This is already a rotation that’s been forced to use stopgap players as mainstays, and losing Pivetta will only increase the frequency and severity of having to do that. Knuckleballer Matt Waldron is next up behind Pivetta, most likely, but this as an area where San Diego is almost certainly in deep trouble as they wait to hear about Pivetta’s injury.