Padres 8, Rockies 6: Sunday Sweep Day

It was another Sunday Run Day at Petco Park, and the Padres came out of the slugfest with their first sweep of the season. Justin Upton led the field today, going 3-4 with a homer and two doubles. He was joined in the dinger club by Derek Norris and Jedd Gyorko (yes, you're reading that right).

The game started off in the worst way possible, with James Shields giving up a solo shot to Rockies leadoff man Charlie Blackmon. After allowing a single to Corey Dickerson, Shields settled down to strike out the side. In the bottom half of the inning, Kyle Kendrick got the first two outs without much fuss, but got into trouble when he beaned Matt Kemp. Justin Upton didn't take too kindly to that. He took Kendrick's first pitch, a 74 mph slider, deep into left field. 2-1, Padres.

That lead lasted until the top of the fourth inning, when Nolan Arenado took advantage of the notoriously home run friendly Petco Park and led off the inning with a blast to left field. A single from Carlos Gonzalez and an RBI double by Michael McKenry made it 3-2, Rockies. Of course, the recurring theme of the day was that the Rockies could not hold a lead. Kemp led off the bottom half of the fourth by getting hit by another pitch. He didn't take it lying down, immediately stealing second. Upton had his back again, hitting a double deep to center, putting a pair of Padres in scoring position with nobody out. A grounder from gold baller Yangervis Solarte scored Kemp, and then Norris's homer made it 5-3.

The top of the fifth looked like it was going pretty well. Shields struck out Kendrick, and though he let Blackmon reach on a single, any threat was erased when Cory Spangenberg started a masterful double play. At least, it would have been masterful, but Walt Weiss challenged the call, and the umpires ruled that Corey Dickerson beat the throw to first. That turned out to be costly when Arenado hit his second bomb of the night, tying the game at 5-5.

The Friars weren't feeling formal, so they ditched the tie in the bottom of the fifth. Spangenberg got on base with a one-out single, and Upton rounded out his phenomenal day with a two-out RBI double to make it 6-5 Padres. And just for good measure, Jedd Gyorko hit his first homer of the year in the sixth to make it 8-5. While Charlie Blackmon hit his second homer of the afternoon off of Craig Kimbrel in the ninth, it was too little, too late. The Padres finished their sweep with a 8-6 victory.

After a happy flight to San Francisco, Tyson Ross will take on the Giants. First pitch is at 7:15 PM.