Jul 17, 2015; San Diego, CA, USA; San Diego Padres starting pitcher J. Shields (R) and first baseman Y. Solarte (26) celebrate in the dugout against the Colorado Rockies at Petco Park. Mandatory Credit: Jake Roth-USA TODAY Sports
The San Diego Padres got out of the gate strong in the second half, using homers to beat the Colorado Rockies Friday night at Petco Park.
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The San Diego Padres hit three home runs — including two in the first inning — and defeated Jorge De La Rosa and the Colorado Rockies 4-2 on Friday night in the two clubs’ first game back from the All Star break.
The Padres jumped all over De La Rosa early, when they clubbed two home runs in the bottom of the first inning to take a 3-0 lead. The homers, off the bat of Matt Kemp and Jedd Gyorko, were aided after Justin Upton reached base on a catcher’s interference by Michael McKenry, during an at-bat that might have otherwise ended the inning at 1-0.
The catcher’s interference happened, though, and so did the home runs, and the Rockies took an early 3-0 deficit into the second inning against Padres’ starter James Shields.
Shields was good on this night, allowing just one run on seven hits and four walks, striking out six Rockies over five innings of work.
The run for the Rockies came on a solo home run from Charlie Blackmon, his twelfth of the year, which was hit into the right field bleachers off Shields in the fifth inning.
The Rockies left eight runners on base, though, and were 0-for-9 with runners in scoring position. They also had three runners thrown out on the bases, including Ben Paulsen on a stolen base attempt, and Drew Stubbs on a pickoff play during an attempted sacrifice bunt by De La Rosa.
On the mound, De La Rosa was good after the first inning, and he ended up throwing five innings while allowing the three runs (just two earned) on five hits and three walks while striking out five Padres’ hitters.
The Rockies would score their only other run in the top of the seventh on a throwing error by Padres’ catcher Derek Norris, in a play that began as a stolen base by Charlie Blackmon, and ended with Brandon Barnes scoring from third on the errant throw.
Rafael Betancourt allowed a solo home run in the eighth inning to push the Padres out to a 4-2 lead, which would hold after Craig Kimbrel shut down his 24th game of the season to give the Padres their third win in a row, and snap the Rockies’ win streak at four games.
The two clubs play again at 6:40 pm MT on Saturday evening, before finishing their series in San Diego on Sunday afternoon.