Padres Series Recap: Padres Take Series from Rockies
Credit: UT San Diego
After being outscored 25-0 by the Dodgers in the Opening Series, what better place to go for the San Diego Padres than Coors Field. The game of Baseball is full of highs and lows, after suffering a low point in the opening series the Padres would find a high point in the high altitude of Coors Field.
The Padres scored their first run of the season at Coors Field after 30 innings of not being able to reach the scoreboard. First year Padre Jon Jay would put up the first run of the 2016 season in the top of the 4th inning and the Padres would go on to score five more in the top of the 4th to make it a 6-2 game.
The game would end 13-6 in Colorado. The key performances of the first game at Coors were Matt Kemp and Yangervis Solarte who would each get four RBI’s. Cory Spangenberg would also have a solid game as he collected two hits including a two run triple. The offense would be the obvious positive in game one as even Melvin Upton Jr. would sneak in on the score sheet with a two-run homer.
The negative from the game would be the pitching for the Padres. Colin Rea really struggled on the mound only going 3.1 innings and allowing five runs, with five walks and a monstrous 109 pitch count. Not necessarily the start you want out of any of your pitchers. It actually could have been a lot worse as Rea left a few hanging pitches up which some Rockies like Nolan Arenado were not able to take advantage of.
Not all pitching for the Friars looked bad in game one as the bullpen looked solid only allowing one run after Rea left the game. Specifically recent call up Robbie Erlin looked solid through 3.2 innings. Allowing no runs or walks while getting two punchouts and recording the win. The main story line for the Rockies out of game one would be that Trevor Story would continue to take MLB by storm. The 23-year-old short stop would hit two bombs in game one of the series to continue his impressive start to his career.
Game 1- Padres 13, Rockies 6
Story could not keep up his tremendous pace in game two as he would only go one for five. However the Padres sure would continue theirs. The Padres enjoyed another enormous win at Coors Field as they would go on to win by an even more impressive scoring line than game one at 16-3.
The pitcher with the most wins in Rockies history Jorge De La Rosa was on the mound for the Rox and as Dick Enberg and Mark Grant pointed out something was wrong with Jorge from the very start. Almost as if he was sick or just didn’t feel the best. Throughout the game you could just see it in the lefty handers demeanor that something was wrong.
The Padres would go on to take full advantage of that as they would put up seven runs on De La Rosa. Four of those runs would come off the bat of Matt Kemp who would continue his domination of Jorge De La Rosa. He would go yard off the lefty twice. Kemp would not stop there as “Beast Mode” would go on to have a total of six RBI’s in the game.
Other key performances at the plate for the Pads in game two would be those of Jon Jay who would have two hits with three RBI’s and Cory Spangenberg who would continue his success as he totaled four RBI including a three run bomb off of De La Rosa.
Another positive to take from game two was the bench players as Adam Rosales and Christian Bethancourt would each have an RBI and Jabari Blash would have a monstrous double that was ever so close to being his first major league home run. The pitching in game two for the Padres was also a huge positive.
It was unclear how Drew Pomeranz would do in his first game as a Padre, but he looked amazing. Pomeranz went five innings only allowing two runs while walking three, and striking out seven. Pomeranz looked solid out there and that nasty knuckle curve of his was doing work. The bullpen would also look solid for the Friars only allowing one run without issuing a walk. Very nice work from Carlos Villanueva, Brad Hand and Luis Perdomo. Game two of the series was just a joy to watch for Padres fans.
Game 2- Padres 16, Rockies 3
Now we go to the third game of the series which showed few positives for the Padres as they would go on to lose 6-3. Even though James Shields would only allow four runs, three of those runs would be solo shots by Carlos Gonzalez, Ryan Raburn, and Nolan Arenado. The gold glove third baseman has completely owned Shields in his career now going 12 for 23 with four of those hits being home runs.
After Shield departed the game Brandon Maurer would take over as he too would give up the long ball. Cargo would hit his second one of the game and who else but Trevor Story would yet again become the main story line of baseball as he would hit his seventh home run of the young campaign.
Giving up five home runs is not something you want to be seeing out of your pitchers. In terms of offense the Padres wouldn’t have too many stellar performances in game three of the series as Chad Bettis would deliver the first quality start for the Rockies in 2016. Cory Spangenberg did look sharp as he got two hits and drove in his seventh RBI of the season.
Game 3- Rockies 6, Padres 3
This series overall was a lot more positive than negative. This series opened up the N.L. West a bit more and opened up the discussion of who would come third, fourth and fifth after the Giants and Dodgers.
I don’t care in what ballpark your playing in if you score 32 runs in a series that’s something special. Of course there were a couple negatives in the series like some of the pitching and of course let’s not forget about the injuries. As Tyson Ross and Yangervis Solarte were both placed on the 15- day D.L.
The Padres now seem to be on track and don’t look to be as bad as some people believed them to be. Let’s not forget this is a very small sample size, and there is a plethora of games to go. The Padres next step in the road will be at another hitter friendly ballpark in Citizens Bank Park. The hitters ballpark combined with the fact that the Phillies are just not that great should ensure that the Padres walk away with another series under their belt and perhaps even the first sweep of 2016. We can only hope.
Francisco, 26, Chula Vista/Tijuana. I have been a Padres fan all my life, did most of the series previews and recaps in the Padres’ 2016 season for EVT. Now I focus more on the local soccer scene. Tijuana Xolos, San Diego Loyal, San Diego Wave.