Padres at Rockies, September 2, 2012: Game Time, Lineups, And Preview.

San Diego Padres at Colorado Rockies, 1.10 P.M. MT

After an all-round terrific performance last night (superior offense, starting pitching and defense) in winning 9-1, the Rockies (54-77) look to win the series today against division-rival the Padres (62-72). The highlights from last night’s game were Dexter Fowler‘s first Grand Slam in his career and Jhoulys Chacin pitching 7 effective innings whilst staying around the designated pitch-limit (76 pitches). Chacin was the first Rockies starter to go at least 7 innings since Christian Friedrich went 7 innings against the Arizona Diamondbacks back in JUNE!

Looking to help achieve the series win today is Jeff Francis (5-4, 5.44 ERA). In his last start against the Los Angeles Dodgers last Monday, Francis went 5 innings (91 pitches), with 3 hits and 6 K’s in a 10-0 Rockies win. Over his last 5 starts he has gone 2-0 with a 4.07 ERA. He will face Padres rookie Casey Kelly (1-0, 0.00 ERA), who makes his second MLB start today. Kelly was obtained from the Boston Red Sox in 2010 in the trade that sent Adrian Gonzalez to the Red Sox. In his first career game against the Atlanta Braves last Monday, Kelly went 6 innings, with 3 hits, 2 walks and 4 K’s in a 3-0 Padres win.

Tyler Colvin will look to continue his hot form at the plate. Last night he had a HR and drove in 3 runs, and over his last 6 games he is batting .375 (9-24), with 2 HR and 9 RBI’s. Josh Rutledge has also been hot, after another 3 hits last night he is batting .450 (9-20) over his last 5 games. Jason Giambi made his return last night with a pinch-hit single and he will hope to continue to build form over the next few games after his lengthy spell on the DL with a viral infection.

The 2 hottest Padres batters have been Will Venable and Cameron Maybin. Venable is batting .439 (18-41) with 2 HR’s in his last 11 games (including another HR last night) and Maybin in this series has hit in 5 of his last 8 at-bats (including 2 hits last night). However in his career against Francis, he does not have a hit against him (0-4).

Rockies Lineup:

Dexter Fowler CF

Josh Rutledge SS

Carlos Gonzalez LF

Jordan Pacheco 1B

Tyler Colvin RF

Chris Nelson 3B

Ramon Hernandez C

Jonathan Herrera 2B

Jeff Francis P

Padres Lineup:

Chris Denorfia RF