The San Diego Padres had been unbeatable for more than a week, but they ran into a hungry Colorado Rockies team Tuesday night in a game that ended San Diego’s eight-game winning streak.
The Padres (82-69) are in the thick of the playoff race but missed a chance to tie the Philadelphia Phillies for the second wild-card spot in the National League with Tuesday night’s 9-3 loss to the Rockies.
San Diego is looking to rebound Wednesday night in the third contest of a four-game series in Denver.
Left-hander Robbie Ray (12-8, 3.57 ERA) will start for San Diego on Wednesday while rookie right-hander Mason Adams (0-0, 3.38) will make his fifth career start for the Rockies and his first vs. the Padres.
Ray came to San Diego from San Francisco in a trade deadline deal last month and has made seven starts for his new team, going 2-2 with a 5.35 ERA. He posted a 3.42 ERA in five August starts but has struggled in September with a 12.27 ERA.
Wednesday night will be the 26th time Ray has faced the Rockies — all of them starts — which will match his total against the Los Angeles Dodgers for most times facing one specific opponent. He is 7-6 with a 4.97 ERA against the Rockies, who he last faced July 10 when he was with the Giants.
His Padres are 9-2 against Colorado this season, which has vaulted them into a wild-card position. San Diego is chasing the Phillies and Chicago Cubs while trying to hold off the Arizona Diamondbacks, who are 2 1/2 games out of the final playoff spot.
“It’s just the time of year where you’ve got to win,” San Diego’s Ty France said. “Especially with the position that we’re in, being in this tight of a race — wins are all that’s important. And it doesn’t matter how you do it. You’ve just got to win.”
The Rockies (56-95) are looking for any kind of victory to build momentum going into the winter. Despite showing marked improvement from 2025, Colorado is on pace to lose 100 games for a fourth consecutive season. The Rockies need to win seven of their final 11 games to avoid another triple-digit losing season.
Tuesday night was a boost for a young team that had lost eight games in a row. Colorado was led by rookie Cole Carrigg’s two home runs, with his second one coming at the end of a 13-pitch at-bat and giving the Rockies a 7-3 lead.
Colorado played Tuesday night without catcher Hunter Goodman, who sat out due to right thumb soreness. Goodman, who leads the team — and major league catchers — with 38 home runs, left Monday night’s game with the injury. He is considered day-to-day.
Goodman was injured while sliding when he finished a triple with a headfirst slide into third during a three-run sixth inning during another Rockies rally that fell short.
“We’ve just got to find a way to get that big knock at the end of the game, or shut them down after a big inning, or stuff like that that we can improve upon, and we should start getting some of these close wins instead of being on the other side of it,” Goodman said.
–Field Level Media
