The Colorado Rockies' offense certainly found itself over the last two games against the San Diego Padres, but on Saturday a 7-1 lead turned into a 9-7 loss. Certainly the rainy conditions played a part in the seventh inning when Jhoulys Chacin turned wobbly and allowed a few base runners before committing a two-run error. But then the bullpen failed to keep a lead. And former Rockies Brad Hawpe delivered a crushing blow with a two-run homer. The Rockies still can recover this series with a victory on Sunday.
Jason Hammel took the loss on Tuesday in the Rockies' 4-3 defeat to the New York Mets, but he did a solid job over seven innings, allowing four runs and striking out five. He now has a string of three straight starts in which he pitched seven innings and he has gone at least six frames in six of his seven starts. The Rockies will need Hammel to go deep into this game after Saturday's shaky performance by the bullpen and what appears to be Jim Tracy's reluctance to use either Franklin Morales or Felipe Paulino in the game.
Mat Latos was one of the key components to the Padres' unexpected success in 2010. While he is still averaging over nine strikeouts per nine innings, Latos has been a bit more hittable this season (31 hits in 33.1 innings) and has given up six long balls so far. He's still looking for his first win of the season (0-5 in six starts), but his offense has averaged just 2.38 runs for him, including two shutouts.
First pitch is scheduled for 1:15 p.m. MT. Tune into ROOT Sports to see the Rockies finish this series.
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