Padres pummel Rockies as bullpen implodes in the seventh

DENVER – The Colorado Rockies and San Diego Padres met for the first time since their infamous brawl on Monday night and it turned into a beating for the home team. It went down as an ugly 13-5 loss as the Rockies fell back to .500 at 12-12.

There were no fisticuffs but this one began with a couple of body blows.

Chad Bettis, who has unquestionably been the Rockies best pitcher so far in 2018, was ambushed by a perfect game plan from the Padres who were all over his pitches on the outer and lower parts of the zone. Wil Myers doubled, Eric Hosmer singled, Bettis balked in a run by dropping the baseball, gave up another single to Jose Pirela then was blasted by Carlos Asuaje who ripped his second home run of the season.

And quickly the Padres were up 4-0. But it didn’t last long.

DJ LeMahieu began the Rockies half by singling to right (of course) and Nolan Arenado followed up with his fourth homer of the year, a screaming line drive that was just high enough to clear the wall in left. David Dahl, who was somewhat surprisingly hitting cleanup, beat out a grounder to short before Trevor Story absolutely obliterated one into a yogurt stand on the concourse in left. And just like that, it was tied at four.

The Rockies took the lead in the third thanks to a two-out walk from Story, who stole second base—his fifth steal in five tries—and scored on a groundball double off the bat of Ian Desmond.

Bettis made the necessary adjustments to throw the Pads back off of his gameplan, allowing just three baserunners after his scary first and keeping the score right where it was.

He was replaced in the sixth by Harrison Musgrave, making his MLB debut. He didn’t look like it, though, working a quick and clean inning including a strikeout of Freddy Galvis.

But it all fell apart for Colorado in the seventh. It began when Ian Desmond lost a Matt Szczur line drive that was ruled a double and Jake McGee gave up a two-run to Franchy Cordero, giving the Padres the lead. Then it got much worse for the home team.

Wil Myers singled and Eric Hosmer walked before McGee was replaced by Scott Oberg who could not escape the inning, getting bit three straight singles that suddenly gave the Padres a commanding 11-5 lead.

On came Antonio Senzatela but he didn’t fare any better, giving up an infield hit to Cordero and a double to Myers. By the time he was finally able to record the third out, it was 13-5, San Diego.

Szczur and Cordero each had two hits in the inning and Hosmer walked twice. Sixteen batters came to the plate in the frame.

Final Stats:

Chad Bettis: 5 IP, 5 H, 4 ER, 2 BB, 5 K,

Harrison Musgrave: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K

Jake McGee: 0.1 IP, 3 H, 4 ER, 1 BB, 1 K

Scott Oberg: 0.1 IP, 3 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 0 K

Antonio Senzatela: 2.0 IP, 5 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 1 K

DJ LeMahieu: 2-for-4, 1 R

Nolan Arenado: 2-for-4 1 R, 2 RBI

David Dahl: 2-for-4, 1 R

Trevor Story: 1-for-3, 2 R, 2 RBI, 1 BB

Ian Desmond: 1-for-4, 1 RBI

What’s Next:

Game 2 of the series will take place on Tuesday at 6:40 Mountain Time. Kyle Freeland is slated to pitch against Eric Lauer.