DENVER – The Colorado Rockies returned to Coors Field with a dud on Tuesday night but bounced back with a thorough 6-2 victory over the San Diego Padres in the second game of the set.

Ian Desmond had the big night offensively, scoring and driving in a pair of runs.

Starter Jon Gray was phenomenal again and looked for a moment like he might work toward a complete game considering how efficient he was. He would have to settle for being removed with an out in the seventh but dominated the game, improving his ERA since returning from Triple-A to 2.59 over seven starts.

The bullpen did not allow a baserunner.

This is exactly the kind of win the club needed.

The Padres jumped ahead early, continuing that odd idiosyncrasy of the season where despite pitching the best they ever have, the Rockies can’t seem to escape the first inning without giving up at least one run.

Travis Jankowski swung at the first pitch of the game and hit a sinking line drive to left that fell just in front of Gerardo Parra. Gray bounced back to record two quick outs but was hurt by another first-pitch fastball when Cory Spangenberg laced one over Charlie Blackmon’s head in center for the RBI double.

Colorado came right back in the bottom of the first. Blackmon singled hard up the middle and swiped second, his seventh stolen base of the season, before advancing to third on a groundout from DJ LeMahieu. Carlos Gonzalez followed with a blooper to left that fell into no man’s land for an RBI base hit.

The Rockies took the lead in the second thanks to the bottom of the order. Desmond drew a one-out walk and was able to race all the way around the bases when Tony Wolters pulled one just inside the first base bag that rolled all the way into the corner for a triple. Tony Three Bags, indeed. Wolters scored on a wild pitch to give the Rockies a 3-1 lead.

They added in the sixth, getting back-to-back singles from Nolan Arenado and Trevor Story, putting runners at first and third with nobody out. Gerardo Parra struck out but Desmond came through with a triple off the right-field wall, scoring both runners and extending the Rockies lead to 5-1.

Gray had retired 12 in a row before Freddy Galvis leaned on a slider that got down and in but somehow he managed to belt it into the second deck for a long home run. Franmil Reyes followed with a hard line drive single to right and then—despite being at just 89 pitches—Bud Black decided to remove him from the game after a short conference on the mound.

He went to Seunghwan Oh who induced a weak grounder from Manuel Margot and struck out Hunter Renfroe looking to end the seventh with the score at 5-2.

The Rockies struck back in the bottom of the eighth with Desmond manufacturing a run almost entirely by himself. He scorched a single through the left side then stole second and moved over to third on a throwing error. He sprinted home on a line drive sac fly off the bat of Wolters to put the Rockies ahead 6-2.

With the game no longer in need of a save, Black turned to Scott Oberg in the ninth. He worked a 1-2-3 inning with a couple of strikeouts to end it in a hurry.

Colorado improves to 69-57

Final Stats:

Jon Gray: 6.1 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 5 K

Seunghwan Oh: 0.2 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K

Adam Ottavino: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K

Scott Oberg: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K

Ian Desmond: 2-for-3, 2 R, 2 RBI, BB

Trevor Story: 2-for-3, 1 R

Charlie Blackmon: 2-for-4, 1 R

Nolan Arenado: 1-for-3, 1 R

Tony Wolters: 1-for-3, 1 R, 1 RBI 

What’s Next:

The final games of the series is set for Thursday afternoon. Kyle Freeland will take on Joey Lucchesi. First pitch at 1:10 Mountain Time.