Brendan Rodgers hit the first grand slam of his career in a five-run fourth inning and the struggling Colorado Rockies beat the San Diego Padres 7-4 on Tuesday in Denver.
Elehuris Montero had three hits and Ezequiel Tovar and Brenton Doyle had two hits each for Colorado, which snapped a six-game losing streak to San Diego dating back to last August. The Rockies won for just the second time in the past 10 games and improved to 4-7 at home.
Jalen Beeks (2-1) tossed three scoreless, hitless innings for the win. Justin Lawrence got the final three outs for his first save of the season.
Jake Cronenworth had three hits while Ha-Seong Kim, Fernando Tatis Jr. and Jackson Merrill had two hits apiece for the Padres, who didn’t score after the third inning.
The Padres scored twice in the first on Cronenworth’s RBI single and Jurickson Profar’s sacrifice fly, and Colorado got a run in the second on an RBI hit by Nolan Jones to make it 2-1.
San Diego answered in the third inning. Luis Campusano drove in a run with a double and scored on Merrill’s single off Rockies starter Ryan Feltner to give the Padres a 4-1 lead.
Feltner went four innings, giving up four runs on 10 hits and two walks with four strikeouts. He left trailing, but the Rockies erupted for five runs in the fourth against Michael King (2-2).
Two singles and an error loaded the bases with no outs, and Rodgers hit an 0-2 fastball 421 feet into the seats in left to give Colorado a 5-4 lead.
It was the Rockies’ first home run in seven games and Rodgers’ first of the season.
Colorado again loaded the bases in the inning and Montero drew a two-out walk to bring in another run. That was all for King, who allowed six runs (four earned) on eight hits in 3 2/3 innings. He struck out five and walked three.
Tovar extended the lead to three runs with an RBI single off reliever Stephen Kolek in the fifth inning.
–Field Level Media
