Weird things happen when the Colorado Rockies and San Diego Padres get together, and tonight’s game was one of many such occasions in the history of this rivalry. The first of two in San Diego had it all. Terrible defense, many different pitchers, chair interference, multiple ejections from the Padres’ bench—including manager Craig Stammen—and finally a walk-off loss after more than three hours.
“We all kept going,” manager Warren Schaeffer assessed after the game. “Back and forth ballgame, really
good big-league ballgame in terms of back-and-forth. Some big offensive moments. Two big at-bats for [Ezequiel Tovar] today. Big homer from [Mickey Moniak], Willi [Castro] — a couple of good walks from Willi, and Cole [Carrigg] just moving the line.
“Scoring 7 runs on the road, that’s pretty good,” he continued. “[We] scored against their bullpen a little bit, it’s a really good bullpen. But then on the other side of the ball, we had four errors. Errors and walks, walks and errors. You’re not going to win in the big leagues if you walk guys, especially late in the game and then you make errors in big moments.”
Not Very Loren-Zen
Right-handed starter Michael Lorenzen was the first of many pitchers utilized by the Rockies in tonight’s… let’s call it “interesting” affair against the Padres. Lorenzen, despite a string of solid starts in recent memory, was looking to rebound after getting hammered hard by the Washington Nationals his last time out.
Instead, Lorenzen gave up a lot of contact in an inefficient start. He threw 93 pitches in just four innings while also giving up eight hits with a walk and only two strikeouts.
Yet somehow Lorenzen gave up relatively minimal damage despite the contact. In the second inning he walked a batter with two outs before giving up two singles and a double to score two runs. A third run could have scored on the second single—one of Fernando Tatis Jr’s five base hits—but a well timed throw home from Jake McCarthy in right field ended the inning.
Lorenzen came out for the fifth inning but gave up another single to Tatis Jr. When another runner reached via a fielding error by Edouard Julien at second base, Lorenzen’s night ended. Juan Mejia allowed a single out of the bullpen that allowed another run to score before ending the inning via a double play.
“I thought Mike battled and competed,” Schaeffer said. “[He was] inefficient and (got) behind in counts. [His] pitch count rose quickly tonight. They fouled balls off — a lot of foul balls — but he battled. He got us into the fifth inning.”
Bullpen vs Defense
The Rockies utilized five relievers in this first of two games against the Padres with mixed results. After Mejia helped the Rockies escape the fifth with only one run scoring and recorded the first out of the sixth, he completely lost the strike zone and walked back-to-back batters. None of the balls in Xander Bogaerts’ at-bat were particularly close to the strike zone.
Mejia was then lifted for Antonio Senzatela—who needs to start rebuilding some of his trade value—who gave up back-to-back singles and a run to score. He then induced a double play, but the game was tied and this began an exhausting back-and-forth that would last the rest of the game.
When the Rockies pulled ahead in the top of the seventh, the Padres followed suit in the bottom. Lefty Brennan Bernardino saw his streak of now 20 straight appearances without allowing an earned run continue, but he allowed an inherited runner to score after Senzatela gave up a walk and a single to start the inning. A fielding error by Willi Castro would allow another run to score and the game was tied once more.
The Rockies again took the lead in the eighth only to end the inning with a tie. Victor Vodnik gave up a leadoff single to Fernando Tatis Jr to start the inning, and a fielding error by McCarthy on a Manny Machado line drive saw him score from first base. Machado was caught on an ill-advised attempt to steal third base but once again the damage was done.
In the bottom of the ninth inning it came down to the embattled Jimmy Herget to try and get the game to extra innings.
Herget entered tonight’s game in a truly miserable slump. In his last four appearances he had given up ten earned runs on nine hits—three of which were home runs—and walked five batters with just three strikeouts. A leadoff single by Jackson Merrill was a bad sign. An even worse sign was yet another error—the Rockies’ fourth of the game—when Hunter Goodman threw the ball into center field while Merrill attempted to steal second. Merrill advanced to third instead. Herget then gave up back-to-back walks before a sacrifice fly brought in the game winning run to cap off a very long and very odd ballgame.
Schaeffer was asked about the compounding errors after the game.
“I think they’re all separate. I think they’re each individual moments in time,” he said. “These guys are professionals, they’re big-league ballplayers and they know how to turn the page. It’s not like a Little League team where you’ve got to bring them all together and say ‘Let’s go. Let’s stop making errors.’ It was just a bad night defensively, that’s all. We’ll turn the page and we’ll be good again tomorrow.”
A solid enough offensive effort
The Rockies put up a fight on the road in San Diego, but it wasn’t enough to make up for terrible defense and pitching struggles.
Castro kicked off a four-run third inning for the Rockies with his 11th home run of the season. He needs just one more to tie his career high of 12, set in 2024 when he was an All-Star for the Minnesota Twins.
A bizarre blooping, bouncing double from Julien kept the inning going, and a single by McCarthy helped the Rockies capitalize on the opportunity. Mickey Moniak then walloped his 17th home run of the season to cap off the frame.
Moniak went 2-for-5 with three RBIs, but also struck out three times against Padres pitching in front of his hometown crowd.
Also playing in front of friends and family—which we were reminded of constantly—was rookie Cole Carrigg. Carrigg had a strong night at the plate, going 3-for-4 with a run and no strikeouts.
On the other hand, it was a difficult evening for Goodman and TJ Rumfield. The duo combined for seven strikeouts while going 0-for-10 at the plate.
The Rockies scored twice more in the seventh inning thanks to doubles with runners on by Tovar and Moniak, then once more in the eighth when Tovar drew a bases loaded walk.
However, they went down flailing against the truly artful filth of Padres closer Mason Miller.
Coming Up Next
Rookie righty Gabriel Hughes will take the mound for tomorrow’s second game of this miniature series. The Padres have not announced their starting pitcher yet. First pitch is scheduled for 2:10 PM MDT.
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