Padres 6, Rockies 9: Nice night for Team Tank

The Padres have won a bunch of series recently, which is great for short term enjoyment, but terrible for their attempt to pick up the best available talent in the 2018 draft. Opening a series against Bud Black’s suddenly good Rockies is a nice way to get back on track for a proper tank. Luis Perdomo got absolutely hammered in two innings and change, and while the offense put up a good fight in the late innings, it wasn’t enough.

Charlie Blackmon welcomed Perdomo to Denver in the traditional way, with a leadoff homer to start game. Jabari Blash countered with a two-run shot in the second, giving the Friars their one brief lead of the evening. It didn’t last. Mark Reynolds led off the second with a double, and then a pair of singles from Ian Desmond and Trevor Story knotted the game at two all. And that’s when Perdomo lost it.

He started the third by walking Blackmon on five pitches, and then DJ LeMahieu singled. Nolan Arenado reached on an error by Erick Aybar, and the bases were loaded with nobody out. Gerardo Parra miraculously hit a shallow fly that kept the runners in place, but Perdomo looked that gift horse in the mouth and issued back-to-back free passes to put the Rockies up by two. A two-bagger by Story doubled that lead and sent Perdomo packing down by a whole grand slam. Craig Stammen allowed one more run to score in the inning, and Colorado had an insurmountable lead.

The Padres clawed back one run in the seventh, but Kevin Quackenbush gave it right back when he served a homer to Parra. Hector Sanchez replied with a solo shot of his own in the eighth, and his teammates tacked on two more over the course of the inning, but it wasn’t enough. It didn’t even matter when Ryan Buchter gave up another run in the bottom half of the eighth. The game was over.

Dinelson Lamet gets the rock in tomorrow evening’s game. First story at 5:40 PM.