DENVER – On a night where the Padres looked to set a new franchise record, the bats stayed silent as the Colorado Rockies snapped San Diego's three-game win streak with an 8-3 victory at Coors Field Wednesday night.
San Diego entered the matchup with a seven-game win streak against Colorado dating back to last season and a perfect 5-0 against Colorado this season. Tuesday's 1-0 shutout win tied an all-time mark for the longest stretch of consecutive wins over the division-rival Rockies.
Despite coming into the game as one of the hottest teams in baseball, the offense has spurted. San Diego has average 2.0 runs and hit under .200 in its last five games – including hitting just one home run.
The lone long ball in that stretch came Wednesday when Luis Campusano hit a solo shot in the seventh off Colorado reliever Jaden Hill. The homer marked Campusano's second of the season, both coming against Colorado.
Tomoyuki Sugano provided stability for a Colorado rotation that had been searching for a productive start. Prior to Wednesday's game, Colorado's starters owned an 0-6 record with an 6.81 ERA and an opponent OPS of .978 in the last 12 games. For the second time this season, Sugano threw the ball well against a star-studded San Diego lineup – tossing 5.2 innings, allowing five hits and just one earned run.
The Colorado pitching staff shined against the top of the San Diego order (Laureano, Tatis Jr., Merrill, Machado), holding them to just two hits – neither of which went for extra bases.
Walker Buehler made his fifth start of the season and failed to complete three innings of work, allowing eight hits and four earned runs. The veteran struggled with control, tying a season-high with three walks and throwing just 47 of his 82 pitches (57.3%) for strikes.
Colorado did most of their damage in the second inning, putting up four runs – all with two outs. Six straight Rockies reached base on five hits, including an RBI single from Edouard Julien to give Colorado a 2-1 lead. They would not look back and run away with their 10th win of the season.
Just keep moving the runner over and scoring! pic.twitter.com/ep2pDYFQjw
With the Los Angeles Dodgers 3-0 loss to the San Francisco Giants, San Diego remains in a tie for first place in the NL West at 16-8.
San Diego will search for a sixth consecutive series victory Thursday afternoon in the rubber match with Matt Waldron on the mound before heading to Mexico City for a two-game set with the Arizona Diamondbacks.
NOTES: Due to the surplus of injuries within the starting rotation, San Diego signed former Buehler teammate with the Boston Red Sox Lucas Giolito to a one-year deal earlier Wednesday. Giolito will look to provide innings with Nick Pivetta, Joe Musgrove and Griffin Canning all sidelined.