Rockies 4, Padres 1: Lyles gives up the longball

Jordan Lyles was looking pretty good tonight as he cruised through the first four innings without allowing a baserunner. But sometime between the middle of the of that inning and the top of the fifth, a switch got set to James Shields Impersonation Mode. Lyles gave up three home runs after his perfect four frames. And while the Padres offense put up the same 7-for-33 numbers as the Rockies, they did it without power. Austin Hedges notched his 15th double and Manuel Margot hit a triple, every other knock for the Friars was a single, and that’s what doomed Lyles.

After Nolan Arenado and Ian Desmond launched their solo shots to put Colorado on the board, the Pads scraped together their lone run in the bottom of the fourth. Travis Jankowski hit a two-out single, swiped second, and then came around when Lyles helped his own cause with a grounder up the middle. There was more potential earlier in the inning, but Erick Aybar pissed away his leadoff single. He tried to take second as Austin Hedges struck out, handing the Rockies a strike ‘em out throw ‘em out double play.

Lyles allowed two more runs in the seventh, not that they mattered. Trevor Story led off the inning with the third bomb of the evening. Desmond sent Lyles packing by hitting a single immediately after. Phil Maton took over, but was unable to preserve Lyles’s quality start. Desmond stole second and went home on a Jonathan Lucroy single.

Jhoulys Chacin will take the mound at Petco Park for the final time this season Saturday evening, facing off against Chad Bettis at 5:40 PM.