Padres 7, Rockies 0: Kennedy shuts out, offense opens up

The Padres are winning in every way possible this week. After yesterday’s sloppy victory, the Friars were firing on all cylinders tonight. Brett Kennedy picked up his first big league win after holding the Rockies scoreless for six innings, giving the weary bullpen some much needed support. The offense got off to a slow start, but went 11-for-34 with three homers and three doubles by the end of the night.

Franmil Reyes ended yesterday’s game with one big swing, and that’s how he started today’s runfest. He came to the plate with two out in the fourth and worked a 2-2 count before Antonio Senzatela dropped a meaty fastball right into the center of the zone. Reyes crushed it toward center field, where it landed about a dozen feet to the left of yesterday’s walkoff.

That was the only run either starting pitcher allowed, as the Friars didn’t score again until Seunghwan Oh replaced Senzatela in the seventh. Austin Hedges laced a one-out double into left field, and Freddy Galvis brought him home with a single. It wasn’t a flawless play, as Galvis ran himself out trying to take second on the throw, but it opened the floodgates.

Travis Jankowski fouled off the first pitch of the eighth, but then watched Jake McGee throw four straight balls to put him on base. That brought up Luis Urías, who sat on a couple of borderline strikes before getting a heater down the middle. After getting robbed of his first home run a couple days ago, he dropped this one cleanly into the middle of the right field porch. No replay crew could deny him his trip around the bases.

Things only got better when Wil Myers followed up with a bomb of his own for back-to-back homers. The 5-0 lead was solid enough, but Eric Hosmer and Hunter Renfroe combined for a pair of doubles to put the good guys up by a half dozen. Manuel Margot moved Hunter over to third with a long fly out to right, and Hedges made it a lucky seven by plating him with a single. Rowan Wick tied a bow on the win with a perfect ninth inning, and the Padres have secured a series split.

They’ll go for a series win and a five-game winning streak behind Robbie Erlin tomorrow. First pitch at 5:40 PM.