Hoping to get a series split in the final match-up against the San Diego Padres, the Colorado Rockies saw their opponent score seven runs in the top of the second to cruise toward a 9-2 victory. The Rockies are now just three losses away from their fourth consecutive year of 100 losses.
Gordon’s troublesome second inning
The Padres’ offensive aggressiveness claimed another Rockies victim in Tanner Gordon. After a pedestrian top of the first inning in which he allowed a couple of singles and had a couple of strikeouts, Gordon had a 1-0
lead to work with heading into the second inning.
Then the wheels fell off.
Xander Bogaerts led off the inning with a solo home run on the first pitch he saw to tie the game. Gordon then rebounded and struck out Luis Campusano for the first out. The home run must have rattled him, however, as he struggled to find the zone and throw a quality pitch. Jake Cronenworth singled, followed by back-to-back walks from Gordon to load the bases.
Dustin Harris, who has been bothersome in the series, collected a two-run single to make it a 3-1 Padres lead. Manny Machado then drove in the fourth run with a sacrifice fly. With two outs, Ty France singled to put runners on the corners with Jackson Merrill coming up to the plate.
Merrill hit a shallow fly ball to right field that turned into a two-run triple as Zac Veen ran a long way to try to catch it, but the ball hit him in the chest as he slid. On the very next play, Bogaerts hit a line drive to right field that Veen tried to dive for but was nowhere near, resulting in an RBI triple to make it a 7-1 game.
Gordon finally escaped the inning, having thrown 43 pitches in the inning. His 73 pitches through two innings the most thrown by a pitcher in a baseball season. He was also the third starting pitcher to throw at least 70 pitches in the first two innings in 2026, all of them Rockies.
He was able to get through the third inning unscathed after giving up a single and a double in the inning, ending his day after 86 pitches. He allowed seven runs on 10 hits with three strikeouts and two walks. Gordon generated 13 swings and misses, but as is typically the case, it’s never in the situation he needs to get the strikeout, and he left far too many hittable pitches in the zone.
“Today, other than having a tough time putting guys away … he had a two-strike count on Taylor with a walk there in the second, and then the two-strike knock to Harris was huge,” manager Warren Schaeffer said after the game. “I thought the pitch around of Tatís was fine, but just long counts. His changeup was working early. They took some swings and swung through it some, and then they started taking it. [There were] just foul balls, long at-bats, the pitch count rose tremendously and then some stuff in the field that didn’t go his way.”
Schaeffer also reiterated the area that Gordon needs to improve — putting hitters away after getting ahead in counts — and that they’re working on it.
“He gets ahead better than anybody on a typical basis,” he said. “It’s just finding a way to put hitters away late in counts with two strikes, and that’s where we need to find something.”
Bullpen carries the load
Zach Agnos took over for Gordon in the fourth inning in his mop-up long relief role. He worked three innings, allowing two runs on five hits with two strikeouts. The two runs came in the fifth inning when Cronenworth led off with a triple, followed by an RBI double for Samad Taylor. Harris collected another RBI single to extend the Padres’ lead to 9-1.
Jaden Hill took the mound for a scoreless seventh, followed by a scoreless eighth from Brennan Bernardino that featured a pair of punchouts. Needing some work, Jordan Romano took over the ninth inning and had two strikeouts against a walk.
King’s court
While the Padres hounded Rockies pitching, the home team couldn’t quite figure out Michael King.
The Rockies put up an early 1-0 lead in the first inning when Jake McCarthy hit a leadoff triple and came in to score on Connor Norby’s RBI single. Unfortunately, the offense wouldn’t score another run off of King until Kyle Karros hit an RBI single to score Cole Carrigg to make it 9-2. The Rockies threatened to score more in that inning when they loaded the bases with two outs, but a strikeout of Troy Johnston ended the threat.
King cruised through six innings, allowing just two runs on seven hits with six strikeouts and two walks. He induced two double-plays and came away with 11 swings and misses. He showcased excellent command of his pitches, particularly the fastball and the slider, to limit the Rockies from doing much of anything.
Similar, but different, offenses
Overall, the difference in the offenses was stark. The Padres had 15 hits and went 5-for-13 with runners in scoring position. They struck out nine times and had just three walks. Five players had at least two hits, three of which had three hits a piece, including Bogaerts, who fell a single shy of the cycle. Bogaerts also became the first player in Padres history to have a triple and a homer in the same inning, and the second MLB player this season behind White Sox outfielder Tristan Peters.
Meanwhile, the Rockies had nine hits while going 2-for-4 with RISP. They also struck out nine times and had just three hits. Two players had multi-hit games while TJ Rumfield managed to extend his on-base streak to a Rockies rookie record-tying 21 games.
The biggest difference was that the Padres had 11 extra-base hits while the Rockies had just one. The ability to get on base is great, but the inability to string together multiple extra-base hits and avoid double-play balls is a hurdle the team has to overcome in the future.
Up next
The Rockies welcome the Seattle Mariners Friday for a three-game series over the weekend. Bryan Woo (12-9, 3.88 ERA) will make the start for Seattle while the Rockies have not yet announced a starter.
First pitch is scheduled for 6:10 pm MDT.
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