San Diego, CA – Petco Park

After an exciting series opener on Friday, the Padres extended their franchise-best 9-0 start at home, besting the Rockies by a score of 2-0.

Kyle Hart got the ball for San Diego, six days after he failed to get out of the first inning in Chicago against the Cubs. For Colorado, their top prospect, Chase Dollander, made his first career start away from home.

The first inning belonged to Fernando Tatis Jr. He secured the first out of the game with a pretty sliding catch to rob Ezequiel Tovar of a knock. Then, he proceeded to work a 3-2 count against Dollander before rocketing a 424-foot homer into the glove of Logan Gillaspie in the Padres’ bullpen.

El Niño leads us off ? pic.twitter.com/zXSfQYtYSO

— San Diego Padres (@Padres) April 13, 2025

Afterwards, Dollander settled in and retired the next six batters he faced, three of the outs being via the strikeout. His fastball topped at 98.9 mph with 19 inches of induced vertical break. The stuff was there, but it was a few rookie mistakes that spoiled a rather impressive outing.

Dollander’s second mistake came at the bat of Jason Heyward. He left a 1-0 fastball in Heyward’s down-and-in hot spot, which he deposited into the left field bleachers for his first home run with San Diego. While it only added a run, the insurance felt much larger against a Rockies lineup that had notched just four hits in the series to that point.

Jason says Hey ? pic.twitter.com/8jDxdNsqJx

— San Diego Padres (@Padres) April 13, 2025

In the sixth, Luis Arraez took advantage of another cookie and lined a single to center. Gavin Sheets followed with a four-pitch walk to end Dollander’s night an out short of six innings. With runners on the corners, the Padres attempted a double steal play that didn’t go in their favor. Sheets’s delayed steal warranted a throw from Jacob Stallings, but Arraez found himself hung up between third and home and was run down by Ryan McMahon for the final out of the inning.

In his first MLB season since 2020, there was concern about how Kyle Hart would respond to his rough outing. He silenced that concern by allowing just a hit and no walks over six shutout innings. While he only struck out four, he attacked hitters, as he was in the zone 66% of the time. Additionally, the lone hit he allowed looped into center at 75.4 mph and was a step away from being caught.

Jeremiah Estrada was up first out of the bullpen for San Diego. He allowed a leadoff walk, but a 4-6-3 double play quickly erased it. Estrada ended the seventh with a strikeout of Kris Bryant on a nasty splitter.

Jason Adam allowed a leadoff single in the eighth but recorded consecutive strikeouts of Michael Toglia and Mickey Moniak. He induced a soft grounder to bridge the two-run game into the hands to Robert Suarez. Zac Veen singled off Suarez’s glove to begin the inning, getting the tying run to the plate for Colorado. A beautiful changeup got Ezequiel Tovar to strike out before Kyle Farmer lined a sinker to center for his fifth hit in two days.

Now, with the go-ahead run coming to the plate in Ryan McMahon, it was crunch time for Maldonado and Suarez. After a brief meeting at the mound, Suarez opened the at-bat with two changeups, both of which McMahon swung through. After taking a third changeup, Suarez powered 100 MPH by him for the punchout. Kris Bryant was the last chance for the Rockies, and he sent the second pitch to right field, towards the home run porch. To cap off an impressive night, Fernando Tatis Jr. made a leaping grab to end the ballgame.

Fernando flashing the platinum out in right field ? pic.twitter.com/s57yAawu7j

— San Diego Padres (@Padres) April 13, 2025

With back-to-back shutouts, San Diego secured the series against the Rockies, an achievement that was rather elusive last season. When asked about the improvements between Hart’s last two outings, Mike Shildt complimented his ability to stay in the zone. “A lot of quality strikes, controlled counts, multiple pitches in the zone,” he said. “Good rhythm to what he was doing, him and Maldy on the same page.”

The Padres will look to get the brooms out against Colorado on Sunday in the series finale. The rotation will turn to Michael King for San Diego, and Kyle Freeland will get the ball for Colorado. The first pitch at Petco Park tomorrow will be at 1:10 PM.

Willy Warren

A 17-year-old San Diego native, Willy Warren is a baseball fan at heart who created High Leverage Baseball, a combination of around-the-league statistical analysis and breakdowns on X, and daily newsletters on the TikTok platform. Willy passionately studies Journalism at San Dieguito Academy, and is working to become billingual in Spanish to assist in communicating with Latin-born players and coaches.