Colorado Rockies morning after: 3 things to know from loss to Padres

The San Diego Padres came to Denver and continued their recent dominance of the Colorado Rockies on Tuesday night, posting an 8-1 decision at chilly Coors Field.

San Diego has now won six games in a row against the Rockies, dating back to August 30, 2020. They have also held Colorado to just 11 runs during those six games (three in Denver and three in San Diego).

Here are three things to know from the Colorado Rockies’ loss to the San Diego Padres on Tuesday night.

Colorado’s offense continues to sputter

After being shut out twice in a three-game series in St. Louis, the Rockies once again had trouble at the plate in their return to the diamond after a rainout on Monday. Colorado has been shut out five times already this season and is now 0-15 on the season when scoring three runs or fewer.

Colorado isn’t helping itself at the plate either. Entering Tuesday, Colorado had had either one or zero walks in eight games this year, and that number moved up to nine on Tuesday. Raimel Tapia drew a walk to open the game and that was the only walk of the night for Colorado. Meanwhile, Rockies pitchers gave up six free passes.

Antonio Senzatela was good … until he wasn’t

For the first four innings on Tuesday, Senzatela was making what seemed to be a triumphant return in his first game back from the injured list after suffering a groin injury. Even when he got in trouble in the fourth, he was able to make the escape pitch he needed to make.

With the bases loaded and a full count, Senzatela struck out Ha-Seong Kim to end the fourth and keep the Colorado lead at 1-0. It was not only a pitch he needed, but also arguably Senzatela’s best executed pitch of the night.

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From there, though, the wheels came off for Senzatela. In the fifth, a two-out double from emerging Rockies killer Jake Cronenworth came just before Manny Machado crushed a 2-0 pitch 431 feet to give the visitors a 2-1 edge.

Senzatela opened the sixth by walking Tucupita Marcano and Tommy Pham followed with a single to end Senzatela’s night at 89 pitches (52 for strikes).

Dom’s doubles

Catcher Dom Nuñez had one of Colorado’s three hits on Tuesday, and it was a second-inning double. So far this season, 11 of the 15 hits produced by Nuñez have gone for extra bases (five home runs, four doubles, and two triples).

It continues an extra-base trend for the 26-year-old Rockies catcher, as just six of his 22 career hits have been singles.