SAN DIEGO -- On a day when Rockies manager Bud Black became the 62nd person in American League/National League history to manage 2,000 career games, the Rockies walked out with their first road series win of the season on Sunday.

Colorado came into the finale against the Padres without a series victory on the road this season. It also hadn’t won back-to-back games away from home before a 3-1 win on Sunday afternoon at Petco Park.

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After falling behind in the second inning, the Rockies gained the lead with two solo home runs. One came off the bat of C.J. Cron, who sent a Chris Paddack changeup to right-center field in the fourth inning. The other came from Chris Owings, who hit his first homer of the season on a ball he sent over the center-field wall while pinch-hitting in the seventh inning.

Black began his managerial career with the Padres in 2007. He was named NL Manager of the Year in 2010 with San Diego and ranks second in San Diego franchise history for managerial games (1,362) and wins (649).

He said getting the win on his milestone day will be something he’ll cherish.

“I'm grateful to so many people in this game to be able to last this long and believe in the coaching staffs and I in the couple places that I've been, and [for] the players who have played for me have always put it out there for the team and the organization,” Black said. “Today was an example of the players playing hard. … I'm proud of the group the way we're battling. I'll remember this one. I will.”

Colorado starter Jon Gray held the Friars to one run on three hits in his six innings of work and struck out seven batters.

Gray got into trouble in the second inning but managed to limit the damage. He surrendered a leadoff double to Trent Grisham, a single to Eric Hosmer and walked Wil Myers to load the bases with no outs.

Gray then got Victor Caratini to ground into a double play that allowed Grisham to score. Opposing pitcher Ryan Weathers grounded out to end the inning.

Gray said getting the first road series win was uplifting for the club, which is 9-34 away from home.

“It seemed like it was just exactly what we needed, really,” said Gray, who was 0-4 with a 5.16 in six road starts this year before notching the win Sunday. “We've been looking for road wins, especially series ones, all year long. And they've been hard to come by. It was nice to do it here in San Diego, and everything just worked out perfectly. This is a really good thing for us.”

The Rockies scored only six runs in their back-to-back wins in San Diego. They benefited from strong starting pitching like Gray’s outing on Sunday and Germán Márquez's seven shutout innings on Saturday night.

“It's a good feeling to have when your pitchers are going out there and doing it,” said Cron, who went 3-for-4 with a homer and two doubles. “We scored three runs back-to-back days to get the wins, so it was their game again. And thankfully we scored enough for them.”