The San Diego Padres offense exploded for a season-high scoring effort, but had to hold on late in a 13-9 win over the Colorado Rockies on Friday night at Coors Field.
Playing with their full starting lineup for the first time in over a month, San Diego (24-13) also had a campaign-best 16 hits, with each starter either scoring or driving in a run. Gavin Sheets equaled his season-top with four RBIs by lacing a pair of doubles,and the trio of Luis Arraez, Manny Machado and Jackson Merrill each recorded three hits.
“One through nine made great contributions, every single guy in the lineup took quality at bats,” said manager Mike Shildt. “I loved the approach…hungry, kept adding on — that’s what good offenses do.”
Jake Cronenworth returned to the Padres lineup for the first time since April 8, working a pair of walks as well as adding an RBI single in the eighth. The bottom four hitters in the lineup combined to drive in eight runs.
The major damage came in the four-run third and five-run fifth.
Merrill had an RBI double, then Sheets cleared the bases by driving in three with a two-bagger in the third. Then Machado scored off a throwing error on Cronenworth fielder’s choice, Sheets had an RBI double, Jason Heyward scratched an RBI single and Martín Maldonado capped the fifth by hitting a two-run home run.
Then in the sixth Merrill drove in his second run of the game on an infield single, beating Michael Toglia to the bag on a bounding in-betweener fielded by the first baseman. Xander Bogaerts added an RBI sacrifice fly after having hard liners snared by the Colorado corner infielders in his first two at bats.
It was a wire-to-wire offensive performance, as the Padres opened the game with four straight singles, with the long run of the first coming when Machado drove home Fernando Tatis Jr.
The 13 runs were the most since the Brown and Gold scored 15 in a win over the Dodgers in the second game of 2024. It was the sixth time they’ve scored 13 or more since Shildt became manager.
Starter Randy Vásquez earned his second win by equaling his season long of six innings, the first time doing so since his season debut, with a year-high five strikeouts to go with one walk. He allowed six hits, with the only mistakes being a pair of solo home runs.
“He was on the attack, I think he had all of his pitches working,” Shildt said. “He was great, (had them) off balance and off the barrel a lot.”
Vásquez also made nifty defensive plays as well. He erased a lead off double in the second by Hunter Goodman when, after a one-out single put runners on the corners, the Padres starter fielded a slow roller towards third and got the out at home. Then in the third Vásquez beat Adael Amador to the bag at first on a soft grounder.
After Yuki Matsui pitched a clean seventh, the Rockies (6-32) began a late charge as they jumped on Sean Reynolds and scored four runs on four hits over 2/3 innings before chasing the 6-foot-8 reliever in his first appearance of the season. Colorado added another after knocking three hits off Wandy Peralta to make it a five-run eighth.
Peralta also started the ninth and allowed a hit before being replaced by Alek Jacob, who allowed the run to come home on a Goodman triple and then a sacrifice fly by Mickey Moniak. Suarez came on with men on first and second and one out to induce a game-ending 6-4-3 double play for his 15th save.
Rockies starter Antonio Senzatela took his sixth loss of the season in 4 2/3 innings, allowing nine hits and eight runs — though only four were earned as Colorado committed three errors. He finished with a pair of walks as well as strikeouts.
As part of Cronenworth returning to the lineup from the 10-day IL, the Padres optioned Oscar Gonzalez to Triple-A El Paso.
Game two of the series has Stephen Kolek (1-0, 0.00 ERA) set to make his second start of the season for San Diego. Colorado counters with Bradley Blalock (0-1, 8.03 ERA) slated to get the ball for the 5:10 p.m. first pitch at Coors Field.
This story was updated at 9:16 p.m.