Heading into Opening Day, the expectations were through the roof for the 2023 San Diego Padres. Opening Days have a way of hyping up a season, especially one that has the expectations that this one does for the San Diego Padres.

With all the hype and excitement that comes along with Opening Day for any team, it is important to remember that it is one of 162 games in a season.

That will be the mindset of the Padres after the Rockies spoiled San Diego’s Opening Day with a 7-2 win at a sold-out Petco Park.

Blake Snell started for the Padres to begin the 2023 season and did what San Diego fans have seen from him a lot. He threw a lot of pitches (93) in just 4.1 innings. However, he struck out nine and only walked one.

Snell’s inability to stay in the game forced Bob Melvin to go to his bullpen early, which gave up four earned runs. From the moment C.J. Cron hit a three-run home run in the fifth inning off of Nabil Crismatt, giving the Rockies a 4-2 lead, things started to implode for the Padres.

Cron would go on to homer again in the top of the seventh, capping off a 4-for-5 night, followed by a solo home run by Eiehuris Montero off of Domingo Tapia that put the Rockies up 7-2.

Though the Padres struck out 17 Rockies, the Colorado two-through-five hitters combined for 12 hits and all 7 RBIs.

Offensively for the Padres, Xander Bogaerts, making his Padres’ debut, was the lone bright spot, going 3-for-4 with a pair of doubles, including a tw0-base hit to begin his career in San Diego. However, Juan Soto went 0-for-4, while Manny Machado went 1-for-3 with a pair of strikeouts.

“They score a run in the first, and we come back and score one again. It feels like that’s the type of offense we’re going to have. We’re going to be able to overcome if we do give up some runs, but didn’t do much after that,” said Padres’ manager Bob Melvin about the pair of early runs for the Padres but nothing after.

Colorado starter German Marquez always seems to stymie the Padres, winning his fifth start in a row at Petco Park dating back to 2019. Marquez finished with 2 earned runs and five strikeouts in six innings but did a good job of keeping the Padres’ hitters off-balance while mixing up his pitches.

These things happen in baseball a lot. Teams don’t play well. Offenses don’t click, especially at the beginning of the season. That is how the sport is built. It just might seem like a magnified loss because of the excitement surrounding the day.

“Home opener, you want to make a great first impression. It’s disappointing. Everyone wanted to win the game, but at the end of the day, it is only one,” said Melvin when asked about the disappointment of losing on Opening Day while trying to keep one of 162 in perspective.

The Colorado Rockies quieted a raucous San Diego crowd that was anxious to get this anticipated season started, however, the beauty of this game is that there are 161 games left in the season.

Nick Martinez will get the ball for the Padres in their second game tomorrow night against Colorado. He and the Padres’ bats will look to shake off Thursday’s loss and put one in the win column.

Kevin Modafferi

Kevin is a San Diego Native covering the San Diego Padres and their affiliates