Padres Lose Series to Rocks, Split Road Trip

May 18, 2014; Denver, CO, USA; San Diego Padres left fielder Seth Smith (12) rounds the bases following his solo home run in the first inning against the Colorado Rockies Coors Field. Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports

The Padres (21-24) dropped the finale in 10 innings to the Rockies (25-20) 8-6, losing the series 2 games to 1. The Rockies are the third best team in the NL, but the Padres managed to give them fits in each of the 3 games.

The team as a whole hit .248 during the series, but it was significantly better than the Reds series. Over the course of the three games,  the Padres hit 5 home runs, 8 doubles and a triple. Obviously, this was somewhat due to the spacious outfield of Coors Field and the high altitude in Denver, but we cannot ignore the fact that the Padres’ seemed to match the Rockies offense punch for punch.

Friday night was quite the pitching duel between Eric Stults (2-4, 4.50) and Jorge De La Rosa (5-3, 4.14 ERA). De La Rosa flirted with a no-hitter before it was broken up in seventh inning.  Stults also pitched well going 6.2 innings, 1 earned run and 2 strikeouts.

Seth Smith once again was the story of the series. He terrorized his former team hitting 2 home runs, 3 RBI, 3 runs scored, and drawing 4 walks. The Friars hitters drew 9 walks against Jordan Lyles and the Rockies bullpen Saturday. In the three game series, the Padres drew a total of 14 walks.

However, the Padres also committed 3 errors in Friday’s 3-1 loss leading to two unearned runs. It ended up being the difference. The Padres have to play better defense. Jedd Gyorko‘s 6th error and Everth Cabrera‘s 7th is tied for 4th most in MLB.

Offensively, the Padres have moved up the rankings the past few days. They are now 22nd in league in home runs including the three hit on Sunday.

The Padres split the 6-game road trip going 3-3. It was an encouraging  sign despite the  loss of ace Andrew Cashner for a couple of weeks with an elbow injury.  Here’s hoping it’s nothing close to the epidemic of Tommy John surgery that seems to be going around the league.

The team now heads back to San Diego to host the Minnesota Twins.