Every game presents a challenge for the Rockies’ floundering offense. Wednesday night’s 5-2 loss to the Padres presented a unique puzzle the Rockies couldn’t solve.
San Diego started knuckleball right-hander Matt Waldron, who had no problems making his pitch dance in the mile-high atmosphere at Coors Field. Over six innings, he gave up one run on four hits and struck out five in his first trip to LoDo.
Waldron said the baseball behaved “weird.”
“Definitely. I think my knuckleball wasn’t as affected, but I threw (some other pitches) that really just cut and did some weird things,” he said. “So I think it’s definitely a tougher environment, for sure.”
The one run he surrendered came in the sixth on Ryan McMahon’s one-out, 444-foot solo homer to right-center. It was McMahon’s third homer of the season and the longest homer by a Rockie this season.
Colorado, which has yet to win back-to-back games this season, fell to 6-19. The drought without back-to-back wins is the longest to begin a season in franchise history. The longest such single-season streak in franchise history was a 35-game stretch in May and June 2022.
Waldron throws a knuckleball 35% of the time, but there was nothing frivolous about his approach Wednesday night. He went right after the Rockies, mixing his sinker, four-seam fastball, and a cutter.
“The thing about knuckleballer is that you don’t know where it’s going to break,” said center fielder Brenton Doyle, who managed a single off Waldron in the sixth. “It makes his fastball even a little sneakier because he throws a lot of knuckleball and you want to stay back, but at the same time he has that fastball in his back pocket that he can throw 90-92.
“I think we started making some good adjustments, so next time when we face him will have a good game plan. I think we’ll have more success against him.”
The Rockies had some chances, but as has been the case so often this season, they couldn’t deliver a clutch hit. In the fourth inning, Colorado loaded the bases on back-to-back walks by Ezequiel Tovar and McMahon and an infield single by Elias Diaz. But Elehuris Montero swung at Waldron’s first pitch and fouled out to first baseman Jake Cronenworth. Then Doyle grounded out to third.
This season, with runners in scoring position and two outs, the Rockies have hit .136 (11-for-81) with 24 strikeouts. In the sixth, with two outs and runners in scoring position, Brendan Rodgers grounded out to short.
Diaz’s two-out solo homer in the eighth off lefty Wandy Peralta provided Colorado’s second run. Diaz also threw out two baserunners — Fernando Tatis Jr. in the seventh and Jackson Merrill in the ninth — attempting to steal second.
Rockies starter Ty Blach pitched well for four-fifths of his start. But the first inning was his undoing. San Diego scored four runs on three hits and two walks off the lefty, who was making his first big-league start of the season.
“That’s just how baseball goes sometimes,” Blach said. “I made some really good pitches that they fought off, and I tried to get too fine and two walks ended up hurting me. You can’t do that when you’re pitching to contact like I do. They made me pay for it.”
Xander Bogaerts led off the game with a solid single to left, and Tatis followed up with a walk. Blach got Cronenworth to pop out to left field, but then he walked Jurickson Profar on a 3-2 count to jam the bases — a killer mistake in Coors Field’s wide-open spaces.
Ha-Seong Kim blooped a cheap double into shallow right field to score two runs, Merrill hit a sacrifice fly, and Eguy Rosario added an RBI single to give the Padres a 4-0 lead.
“Ty made a really good pitch to Kim, but he hit that dorker down the right-field line — that’s baseball,” manager Bud Black said. “Two walks and the dorker got Ty.”
The Rockies have been running uphill all season, having been outscored 35-7 in the first inning.
San Diego’s lead grew to 5-0 in the sixth. Profar looped a leadoff single to left field off reliever Victor Vodnik and Kim put down a bunt for a base hit. When McMahon threw wildly from third base, Profar advanced to third. Profar scored on Merrill’s groundout to second.
Thursday’s pitching matchup
Padres RHP Randy Vasquez (0-1, 1.80 ERA) at Rockies RHP Dakota Hudson (0-4, 5.06)
1:10 p.m. Thursday, Coors Field
TV: Rockies.TV (streaming); Comcast/Xfinity (channel 1262); DirecTV (683); Spectrum (130, 445, 305, 435 or 445, depending on region).
Radio: 850 AM/94.1 FM
Hudson remains winless through his first four starts with Colorado. He’s coming off a loss to Seattle on Saturday at Coors Field when he allowed four runs on seven hits and five walks over four innings. He struck out one. Walks continue to be a problem for Hudson. The right-hander has faced the Padres three times in his career, going 1-1 with a 2.45 ERA that includes seven strikeouts and three walks.
Although Vasquez struggled in his three starts with Triple-A El Paso before being called up last Saturday, he gave the Padres a solid start against Toronto in his 2024 major league debut. He limited the Blue Jays to one earned run on four hits and one walk while striking out three over five innings. With Yu Darvish out with a neck injury, the Padres need Vasquez to give them one of two more solid starts. The rookie has not faced the Rockies.
Pitching probables
Friday: Off day
Saturday: Astros RHP Ronel Blanco (2-0, 1.33) at Rockies LHP Austin Gomber (0-4, 4.32), 2:05 p.m. in Mexico City