DENVER (AP) — Manny Machado had four hits to help spark San Diego’s offense, Dylan Cease took a one-hitter into the sixth inning and the Padres rebounded from a loss to beat the Colorado Rockies 8-3 on Saturday night.
Luis Campusano homered and singled to drive in a pair of runs and Bryce Johnson added two hits and two RBIs for the Padres. Jake Cronenworth also drove in a pair of runs for San Diego, which could win its franchise-record ninth consecutive series since the All-Star break with a victory Sunday. “Our goal all season was to win every series. That’s very tough to do, but we’re playing really well right now,” Cronenworth said. “We had a tough loss last night, but we come back and rebound tonight and have a great win. The goal tomorrow is everybody gets to the field focused on what we’ve got to do to win the game, win the series.” San Diego moved within two games of the front-running Los Angeles Dodgers in the NL West, while holding the top spot in the NL wild-card standings. “It feels like evey game we’re going into, we’re either right there or we’re ahead,” Cease said. “I think we’re all feeling confident. We’re playing really good baseball and we just want to keep it rolling.”
Michael Toglia homered for the Rockies, driving in two of the team’s three runs in the sixth inning with his 20th of the season.
In the sixth, Cease (12-9) walked Ezequiel Tovar and Ryan McMahon around a single by Brenton Doyle to load the bases. Tovar scored on Brendan Rodgers double play grounder and Toglia followed by driving Cease’s 3-1 offering into the right-field seats and finishing Cease’s night.
In 5 2/3 innings, Cease allowed three runs on three hits. He struck out five but also walked five, matching a season high. “I definitely was trying to get everything in the zone,” Cease said. “I thought I did a good job of that the first three and then I was a little shaky after that, but it was good enough for us to get a win and I’m happy about that.”
San Diego was in front 5-0 heading into the top of the sixth inning when a pair of Colorado errors opened the door to two unearned runs for the Padres. Campusano homered off Peter Lambert to start the eighth, expanding San Diego’s lead to five runs.
Colorado starter Kyle Freeland (3-5) went five innings and allowed five runs on eight hits. “It was one of those games where I just felt like everything was falling the opposite way,” Freeland said. “There’s a reason that they’re two games back of the Dodgers and they’re in a playoff hunt. They’ve got a lot of big names over there. They’ve been putting it together all year long and you can’t take those guys lightly. They can do damage.”
TRAINER’S ROOM
Padres: No word yet on when or if RHP Yu Darvish will return to the team but manager Mike Shildt said he communicated with Darvish via text message on Friday. “It was his birthday yesterday so I sent him a nice text and wished him a happy birthday,” Shildt said Saturday. Darvish last pitched for the Padres on May 29. He was initially placed on the injured list with a left groin strain but on July 6 was transferred to the restricted list to deal with a personal family matter. The manager said he didn’t ask Darvish where he was physically from a baseball standpoint but assured him that he was pulling for him from a personal standpoint. “Hopefully, he’s in a better place,” Shildt said.
UP NEXT
Padres RHP Joe Musgrove (3-4, 5.20 ERA) is slated to make his second start since his reinstatement from the 60-day injured list Sunday in the series finale. Bradley Blalock, (0-0, 4.05 ERA) was set to make his second start since his acquisition from Milwaukee.
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