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Padres rally but fall short in series opener vs Rox

Fri, Sept 13, 2019	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E	L
San Diego Padres	0	2	0	0	0	5	1	0	0	8	9	1	8
Colorado Rockies	2	1	0	5	0	1	0	1	X	10	14	1	8
W: Hoffman (2-6) L: Lucchesi (10-8) S: Diaz (4)

Jonny Richardson - September 13, 2019

Friday the 13th AND a full moon? You knew something was going to happen in Colorado as the Padres nearly come back for the second straight game after taking a 14-13 win last time at Coors Field back in June.

Joey Lucchesi started off on the wrong side of the bed, giving up a 2-run homer to the third batter he faced. The Rockies hit all over him, tagging the left-handed pitcher for 8 runs and 9 hits through 3⅔ in his shortest career start in terms of number of pitches (45).

Austin Hedges put the Padres on the board and tied up the game at two apiece with a 2-run bomb to center, which scored Luis Urias. Hedgey finished the night 1-for-2 with the roundtripper and a pair of walks.

With an early exit of starting pitcher Joey Lucchesi, Eric Yardley entered the game to finish off the fourth inning and a scoreless fifth. Stammen threw the sixth, in which he struck out two while giving up a solo homer to Rockies’ shortstop Trevor Story.

With a 6-run deficit to start the sixth inning, San Diego rallied to put them within a run as Myers, Naylor, Urias, Hedges and pinch-hitting France each consecutively reached base to make it a 8-5 Colorado lead. After a strikeout for out no. 2 of the frame, Martini hit a run-scoring double and Hosmer gets hit for a second straight game in which the Padres scored a run off a hit by pitch. The Rockies led 8-7.

After Story hit a dinger to put the Rox up by two, San Diego fought back to bring the game within one run again as Josh Naylor led off with a double, moved to third on a wild pitch, and scored on an error by shortstop Story.

Matt Strahm arrived to the mound as San Diego’s fourth pitcher in the seventh and worked 1⅓ shutout frames before being relieved by right-hander Michel Baez. Baez gave up a pair of hits and free passes while allowing one run.

The Padres were shut down in the ninth, going down 1-2-3 and dropping their second straight game; meanwhile, the Rockies take the lead in the season series, 9-8.

Southpaw Eric Lauer will take the hill for San Diego on Saturday night against opposing pitcher Peter Lambert. Lauer’s 19.73 ERA at Coors Field is the highest such in any major league ballpark with at least 3 starts. Lambert has faced the Padres twice before, once June 16 and Sept. 8. Both starts were completely different, and the Rockies will hope for the most recent start in which Lambert went 5 innings of one-run ball.