Colorado Rockies morning after: 3 things to note from Padres series

Josh Fuentes was due. Long overdue actually.

Having notched just one hit in his previous five games (during a 1-for-13 streak), Fuentes answered the bell for the Colorado Rockies in the second game of a doubleheader Wednesday against National League West rival San Diego at Coors Field.

Fuentes staked Colorado to a 2-0 lead with a second-inning, two-run home run, then ended the contest with a run-scoring single in the eighth inning — the first walkoff hit of his career — in the Rockies’ 3-2 nightcap victory.

The win snapped a five-game losing skid for Colorado (13-24), the team’s second-longest losing streak this season (club dropped 7 in a row from April 9 to 17).

In the opener, San Diego’s Victor Caratini cracked a tie-breaking grand slam in the sixth inning off Rockies reliever Robert Stephenson on the way to a come-from-behind 5-3 victory for the Padres.

Both games of the twinbill were traditional seven-inning affairs, as is the case for the 2021 season.

In the second contest, Fuentes had two of the team’s eight hits while driving in all three runs. His five total bases should help move him up a few spots among National League hitters in slugging percentage. Entering the game, his .266 mark was the second-lowest slugging percentage in the league for players with a minimum of 90 at-bats.

After going 1-for-10 while grounding into a double play and committing two fielding errors as Colorado was swept in a three-game series at St. Louis over the weekend, Fuentes responded with his big day after not having played in the first two contests of the three-game set with San Diego.

In the opener, starting pitcher Jon Gray took a 1-0 lead into the fifth inning. But the Padres knotted the game at 1-1 in the fifth then took the lead for good on Caratini’s bases-clearing homer.

The Rox tried to rally, getting two runs in the bottom of the seventh to make it a 5-3 contest. But Colorado left the bases loaded in both the sixth and seventh innings on the way to stranding 10 runners. Elias Diaz made the final out of the game, popping out to second base to end a 10-pitch at-bat.

With its first-game victory Wednesday, coupled with an 8-1 decision on Tuesday night, San Diego took two of the three games between the two teams. In so doing, the Padres snapped the Rockies’ stretch of having won their last three home series.

Here are 3 things we saw in the series with the Colorado Rockies series with the San Diego Padres:

1. Fuentes has a penchant for playing well in the second game of twinbills

The big performance in the nightcap Wednesday wasn’t the first time this season that Fuentes had turned the trick.

In Game 2 of a home doubleheader April 17 against the New York Mets, he matched a career-high with four RBIs in a 7-2 Colorado win. In that contest, Fuentes had a three-run homer—his last roundtripper before his two-run blast Wednesday.

More from Rox Pile

• A Colorado Rockies Thanksgiving
• Colorado Rockies: What if Todd Helton had played football instead?
• Colorado Rockies: Charlie Blackmon out for the season
• Colorado Rockies: Injuries shift look of roster ahead of Dodgers series
• Colorado Rockies: Has Sean Bouchard earned a second look in 2023?

2. Austin Gomber can be effective when he limits his walks

The left-hander issued only one base on balls in 5.1 innings in his second-game start Wednesday.

He also limited San Diego to just four hits (only one for extra bases) in allowing one unearned run in a no-decision. Gomber has now allowed just two walks in 16.1 innings pitched in his last three starts (one win, one loss, one no-decision). This comes after opening the season with a combined 11 walks in his first two starts (both losses).

3. Daniel Bard continues his bullpen struggles

The ongoing saga of Bard’s issues continues.

In Game 2 on Wednesday, manager Bud Black summoned the right-hander with one out in the sixth inning after Gomber surrendered his lone walk and with Colorado leading 2-1.

Despite a Rockies fielding error, Bard was able to escape the inning unscathed. But, in the seventh inning, he was touched for three consecutive hits and the tying run to send the game into extra innings.

The blown save was his third of the year. He has now allowed earned runs in six of his last nine appearances for an ERA of 11.00 over that period (9 IP, 11 ER). His season ERA stands at 7.11.

The Rockies homestand continues Thursday as the Cincinnati Reds arrive for a four-game set at Coors Field. First pitch for Thursday’s contest in 6:40 p.m. (Mountain time). Chi Chi Gonzalez (1-1, 5.97) is slated to start for the Rox.