DENVER – After five scoreless innings of one-hit ball at Coors Field, the Padres finally broke out in the sixth inning to put a lone straight number on the scoreboard as they beat the Rockies for the 10th time in 11 games, taking the series opener on Tuesday 1-0.
It was an unlikely matchup for a classic pitchers’ duel, with Randy Vásquez taking on the Rockies’ bullpen. Pitching aficionados got a rare treat as Vásquez squared off inning after inning, primarily against Colorado’s Chase Dollander, who pitched six innings after opener Jimmy Herget.
Vásquez pitched seven innings of scoreless baseball, giving up three hits and striking out five, while only letting one man get to second -- on Ezequiel Tovar’s stolen base in the second after being hit by a pitch.
The Padres cracked the code in the sixth, after Dollander retired 12 consecutive batters, including six straight strikeouts. Jake Cronenworth laced a one-out double to right and advanced on a two-out infield single from Fernando Tatis Jr., before Jackson Merrill’s hit-by-pitch to load the bases.
With Manny Machado at the plate, Dollander allowed the only walk of the game, plating Cronenworth and providing the Padres with their margin of victory.