Colorado Rockies vs. San Diego Padres Pick & Prediction SEPTEMBER 20th 2023
The San Diego Padres are finishing the 2023 season the way manager Bob Melvin hoped they would -- and are winning.
The Colorado Rockies are finishing the 2023 season the way manager Bud Black hoped they would -- and are losing.
Wednesday afternoon in San Diego, the Padres will go for a three-game sweep of the Rockies and a seventh straight win.
Mario DeLuca
"Getting that one was big," Melvin said Tuesday night after Xander Bogaerts hit a two-run, walk-off homer to give the Padres a 2-0 win in a game that started with Cy Young Award candidate Blake Snell pitching seven no-hit innings.
"We answered every zero right to the last pitch," Black said. "I love the way we're competing."
But while the Padres (74-78) have won six straight games -- double their previous longest winning streak of 2023 entering this stretch of games-- and are 8-3 over the past 11, the Rockies (56-95) have lost three straight and are 8-20 over the past month.
Seth Lugo (7-7, 3.83 ERA) will start for the Padres on Wednesday while fellow right-hander Chase Anderson (0-5, 6.00) will go for Colorado.
But the matchup isn't as one-sided as it appears.
Like Snell on Tuesday, the 35-year-old Anderson pitched seven no-hit innings in his most recent outing last Friday against the San Francisco Giants, allowing one run on five walks with seven strikeouts.
And like Snell, who was at 102 pitches after seven no-hit innings Tuesday night, Anderson was at 101 pitches after seven innings against the Giants -- and that was the first time he reached triple digits in pitches since June 21, 2019. Plus, it was Anderson's third start since returning after missing eight starts due to right shoulder inflammation.
"I'm not going to risk Chase Anderson's career for a chance at a no-hitter," Black said.
Anderson was in agreement. Fast forward to Tuesday night, and Snell and Melvin agreed on the same point.
And while Anderson is 0-5 with the Rockies, Colorado is 7-8 in the 15 games he has started since he was claimed on waivers from Tampa Bay on May 12.
Anderson is 3-1 with a 3.88 ERA and 58 innings pitched in 10 career starts against the Padres. In four previous starts at Petco Park, Anderson is 1-0. However, he hasn't faced the Padres since Aug. 7, 2018, while with the Milwaukee Brewers, and he hasn't had a decision against San Diego since June 28, 2015.
The Padres are 10-14 in Lugo's 24 starts this season. Lugo has doubled the innings he pitched last year while working out of the bullpen for the New York Mets, and his 131 2/3 innings pitched are a career high. He has struck out 126, also a career-best tally.
Lugo will make his third start this season against the Rockies. He is 1-0 with a 1.93 ERA in 14 innings against them this year, allowing four runs (three earned) on nine hits and three walks with 16 strikeouts in 14 innings.
--Field Level Media
Colorado Rockies vs. San Diego Padres Recap SEP 20TH 2023
San Diego ace Blake Snell exited after seven hitless innings on Tuesday, and the Padres beat the visiting Colorado Rockies 2-0 when Xander Bogaerts hit a two-run, walk-off homer with two outs in the bottom of the ninth.
Padres pitchers took a combined no-hitter into the ninth and wound up with a three-hit shutout for the team's sixth straight win.
Snell, a strong candidate for the National League Cy Young Award, issued four walks while striking out 10. He left after 104 pitches, having lowered his major-league-leading numbers in ERA (2.33) and opponents' batting average (.181). Snell has a 1.26 ERA in his past 22 starts.
Robert Suarez followed Snell with a perfect eighth before Brendan Rodgers lined a single past Bogaerts at short off Josh Hader (1-3). The San Diego closer gave up another hit to Nolan Jones before getting Elias Diaz to ground to Bogaerts for an inning-ending double play.
In the bottom of the ninth, Trent Grisham drew a one-out walk off Rockies reliever Tyler Kinley (0-3) before Eguy Rosario struck out.
Bogaerts then lofted a low slider from Kinley, the ball landing just inside the left field foul pole for his 19th homer of the season.
Snell wasn't the only notable pitching story in the contest.
Rockies starter Ryan Feltner allowed two hits and two walks with five strikeouts over five scoreless innings in his first major league appearance since sustaining a fractured skull on May 13 when he was struck on the right side of his head by a line drive from the Philadelphia Phillies' Nick Castellanos.
The Padres failed to score in the sixth and eighth despite having a runner on third with less than two outs in both innings.
Juan Soto doubled to lead off the sixth and stole third, only to be picked off third.
Fernando Tatis Jr. doubled and stole third in the eighth, only to be thrown out at home on a grounder to third baseman Ryan McMahon. The Padres loaded the bases before Jurickson Profar grounded into an inning-ending, pitcher-to-catcher-to-first double play.
--Field Level Media