SAN DIEGO – A pair of early runs stood up thanks to preeminent pitching for the San Diego Padres in a 2-0 win over the Colorado Rockies on Thursday night at Petco Park.
Luis Arraez drove in a run while collecting a trio of hits, and Jackson Merrill added a home run for the Padres (80-67) to back up a career-high night from Randy Vásquez. Colorado (40-107) lost for the sixth straight game and were shut out for a Majors-leading 16th time, which tied the franchise record set in 2021.
“He’s throwing the ball exceptionally well, threw the ball well over there, threw the ball really, really good tonight, just a lot of quality strikes… he had command of almost all of his pitches (and) kept ’em honest,” said manager Mike Shildt. “It was really the recipe for the whole evening, you look up at him and 90 pitches and 66 strikes, that’s pretty impressive.”
Vásquez was razor sharp in his six innings of work to earn his fifth win of the season, as he scattered four hits and struck out a career-best nine with no walks. Colorado only had a man reach second base three times against him, as he held the visitors to 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position.
“It’s really based on the preparation work that I was able to do and being mentally ready to pitch every five days, when I went to the minors that was primarily my focus, just to always be ready whenever the situation would arise for me and this was just one of those days is just came out again,” Vásquez said. “I feel great, I know they have the confidence in me to come and do this role right now, and when the playoffs come, if they come, I’ll be ready for whatever I’m needed.”
The San Diego starter mixed his pitches well all night, as he collected three strikeouts with the curveball and and three with his sinker. Vásquez has thrown better than 73% strikes in both of his starts since returning to the rotation on Sept. 6.
“Controlling counts is something we talk about a lot, and it’s something he’s really done and getting better at and more comfortable with,” Shildt said. “He’s starting to get his footing in this league and done a nice job with those quality strikes and the ability to put it where he wants to, and again, ability to throw in sets up everything else and opens up his other stuff.”
The Padres got their first run when Freddy Fermin singled with one gone in the third inning, then took second base on a wild pitch by Rockies starter McCade Brown. Arraez worked the count full and ripped an elevated sinker into left-center field to bring him home.
An inning later Merrill continued his run of slugging by crushing an elevated sinker out to left field for his 11th home run of the season. Six of his last nine hits have gone for extra bases, and he has driven in 20 runs over the last 29 games.
“That’s me, opposite field hitting is what I’ve done since I was eight years old,” Merrill said. “I’ve just found a couple things that I’ve made a couple of adjustments and kind of gone from there, I don’t think I’ve gained too much strength from the time I was hurt, I think just making adjustments and going day by day has helped.”
San Diego has won 11 of the last 14 when Merrill drives in a run.
“It was a loud noise, he drove that ball the other way, I don’t see great but I can hear well and I could hear it and was like ‘oh, that ball is out’,” Shildt said. “He’s been great, him driving the ball all over the ballpark and playing like he’s capable of is definitely a big boost for us.”
Out of the bullpen Jeremiah Estrada and Mason Miller were untouchable in their single innings of work, as both didn’t allow a hit and struck out a pair. Robert Suarez earned his 37th save with a one-two-three ninth, collecting a strikeout.
Padres pitchers have struck out nine or more in 10 of the last 11 games, with the 14 K’d tonight the most over the stretch.
With the win San Diego picked up half a game on the idle Los Angeles Dodgers, sitting 2.5 games back of the NL West leaders. They remained seven games back of the Chicago Cubs for the top NL Wild Card, but moved to four games ahead of the New York Mets as the Philadelphia Phillies finished a four-game series sweep earlier in the day.
For the second game of the series San Diego will start JP Sears (1-1, 5.52 ERA), while the Rockies will throw Tanner Gordon (5-6, 6.60 ERA) for the first pitch scheduled for 6:40 p.m. at Petco Park.
This story was updated at 9:44 p.m.