Rockies End Padres Win Streak
Two of the longest streaks in the major leagues this year ended at the same time Saturday.
Neifi Perez and Vinny Castilla each hit three-run homers, and the Colorado Rockies stopped San Diego's 14-game winning streak, 12-10 in the opener of a day-night doubleheader.
The Rockies built leads of 7-0 and 11-4 before hanging on to end a nine-game losing streak.
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"Talk about a monkey on your back for two weeks," Rockies reliever Curtis Leskanic said. "Ninety-five degrees at Coors Field, you knew it was going to be a high-scoring game. I'm just glad we came out on the good end of it."
Perez and Castilla had four RBIs apiece, and the Rockies' Kirt Manwaring and San Diego's Reggie Sanders both had four hits.
"We haven't been hitting with runners in scoring position, but today we hit some," Perez said.
San Diego's 14-game streak was the longest in the majors since the 1994 Kansas City Royals. Colorado's nine-game slide was its longest since the franchise's inaugural season in 1993.
"It just feels good to win a game," Rockies manager Jim Leyland said. "That's a real hot club over there, and they showed why. They didn't quit. They're good, but we did good today, too."
Colorado, which outhit the Padres 17-13, has reached double figures in runs in seven of its last 10 at Coors Field. Teams have reached double digits 26 times at Coors this season, including eight games in which both teams did it.
"We went down with a fight," Padres manager Bruce Bochy said. "We got don but never quit. Colorado just swung the bats well."
After losing to the Padres 15-3 Friday night, the Rockies hit four homers in the first four innings, accounting for nine runs of an 11-4 lead. The Padres then closed to 11-10.
Former Padre Roberto Ramirez (1-0), recalled from Triple-A Colorado Springs earlier in the day, won in his first major league start despite allowing six runs and seven hits in five innings. Dave Veres pitched the ninth for his 12th save in 16 chances.
The Padres, trailing 12-10, threatened in the eighth when Ed Giovanola led off with a single. Curtis Leskanic fell behind Eric Owens 3-0 with Sanders due up next, but Owens to hit a hard grounder to second baseman Kurt Abbott and the Rockies turned a double play.
"That was probably the biggest at-bat of the game," Leyland said. "That ball had a chance to eat him up, and Abbott came up with a great play."
Larry Walker hit a solo homer, his 22nd, in the first off Woody Williams (4-6), and Perez and Castilla homered in the second.
Manwaring doubled in the third and scored on Darryl Hamilton's single, and the Rockies chased Williams in the fourth. Todd Helton doubled and scored on Abbott's two-run homer. Manwaring tripled off the wall in right-center, and Perez hit an RBI single off Carlos Almanzar.
San Diego, trailing 7-0, hit three homers in scoring four runs in the third. Owens had a solo homer, Phil Nevin a two-run homer and Ruben Rivera a solo shot.
Wally Joyner's two-run homer made it 11-6 in the fifth, and the Padres pulled within a run with a four-run seventh highlighted by Rivera's two-run double off Jerry Dipoto. Pinch-hitter Dave Magadan's groundout produced a run, and Damian Jackson followed with an RBI single.
Castilla had an RBI triple in the Rockies' half.
Notes
- The first game was the makeup of a snowed-out game on April 14.
- Walker extended his hitting streak to 17 games and Owens ran his to 15 games.
- Rivera's 477-foot homer in the third was the ninth-longest at Coors Field.
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