During the recent 2-12 skid that brought the Rockies back down to earth, their most-common lament went something like this: “When we pitch well, we don’t hit. When we hit, we don’t pitch well.”
Friday night at Coors Field, they did neither well in a 10-4 loss to the streaking San Diego Padres, who won for the ninth time in their last 11 games to improve to 20-14.
Colorado’s three-game winning streak screeched to a halt and they are back to .500 with a 16-16 record.
Left-hander Kyle Freeland, heretofore Colorado’s most consistent pitcher who entered the game with a 2.87 ERA, didn’t make it out of the fifth inning. And while Colorado scored four runs in the first inning off right-hander Zach Davies, the offense went dormant after that.
The Padres, who belted out 19 hits, ganged up on relievers Jeff Hoffman and Phillip Diehl in the decisive four-run sixth. Ty France’s three-run double off Diehl iced the game.
The double from France with two outs should come as no surprise. San Diego entered the game with 78 runs scored with two outs, the most in the majors. Also, San Diego was 6-for-13 with runners in scoring position. Again, no surprise. The Padres entered the game with a .303 average with RISP, best in the National League.
The Rockies, on the other hand, were 1-for-6 with runners in scoring position Friday night.
Freeland had turned in quality starts in all six of his outings prior to Friday’s game, but the Padres’ relentless offense turned it into a rough night for the lefty. The 11 hits off Freeland — in just 4 1/3 innings — tied his career-high for hits allowed. He also gave up 11 on Sept. 28, 2018 vs. Washington over six innings.
San Diego chased Freeland from the game with a three-run fifth to tie the game, 4-4. The big blows were RBI doubles by Eric Hosmer and Wil Myers, as well as a bloop single to right by France, who hit 3-for-4.
The Padres had already put Freeland against the ropes in the fourth. With one run already in, the bases full, just one out and the top of the order coming up, Freeland needed to find a way out. The lefty took a few deep breaths then struck out Trent Grishan with a 2-2 slider. Then he coaxed the dangerous Fernando Tatis Jr. to pop out to second to end the inning.
Things looked rosy for Colorado in the first inning. When Hosmer dropped the ball on a throw to first base, scuttling what would have been an inning-ending double play, the Rockies took advantage. Daniel Murphy drew a walk and then Matt Kemp launched a three-run homer into the forest beyond the center-field wall. The ball traveled 468 feet, the longest of his career in the Statcast era (since 2015) and tied the Yankees’ Aaron Judge for the fourth-longest in MLB this season.
