Rockies succumb to Juan Soto's two home runs in 8-5 loss to Padres

gqlshare

Aug 1

Peter Lambert was so close to starting August on a note worthy of his July.

As he returned to the dugout in the fifth inning, he had conceded one run to the fearsome Padres lineup. But the bases he left loaded behind him posed a lingering threat to the Rockies, and to Lambert's final stat line. Tommy Doyle was charged with facing Fernando Tatis Jr. and Juan Soto with one out.

Doyle did a reasonable job with the first challenge, inducing a run-scoring groundout. Looking on, Lambert didn't get so lucky a result from MLB's perennial on-base king.

"Star after star over there," Lambert said.

The first of Soto's two home runs, a three-run shot just left of center field, broke open a 5-1 Padres lead and resulted in an 8-5 loss for the Rockies on a wet Tuesday night at Coors Field. It also brought Lambert's total to 4 1/3 innings, four earned runs. He didn't allow a single earned run across three big-league starts and 14 innings in July.

"I thought the game went pretty well, pretty as-planned," Lambert said. "But just two walks that ended up hurting."

Ryan McMahon drove in four runs for the Rockies, including a three-run home run in the seventh that canceled out Soto's blast and drew Colorado within striking distance. But after Elias Diaz's third double of the game placed the tying run in scoring position with nobody out, the Rockies couldn't score him — though Nolan Jones seemingly thought he had, admiring a towering fly ball that died at the warning track in right-center. From the dugout, McMahon thought it was out, too.

"The ball here carries really well down the lines," he said, "and as soon as you get to those gaps, it kind of — I feel like it always does it little funnel thing where it funnels toward center field a little bit more. … He'll be all right. He'll hit more homers."

An intriguing perk of Colorado's trade deadline selling spree is the subsequent opportunity provided to young players, now that Randal Grichuk and C.J. Cron are shipped off. Colorado's position players Tuesday had an average age of 27 years, 219 days. The bottom three hitters in the order entered the game with 683 career at-bats between them.

One of those batters, Elehuris Montero, found himself in multiple key spots. After Jones' loud flyout in the seventh moved the tying run to third with two outs, the 24-year-old DH worked a count full. On a 2-0 count, he chased after a breaking ball that veered off the outside corner. Montero ended up popping out to end the inning, and Soto struck minutes later with his second homer to the same location in center.

The Rockies had their chances to supply Lambert with a comfortable lead. San Diego starter Pedro Avila was all balk, no bite in the first inning, but Colorado didn't take advantage beyond a 1-0 edge. He issued a balk, a walk, a wild pitch and three hits in the inning, but escaped a 32-pitch frame when Montero struck out to strand the bases loaded.

"He got a couple hanging breaking balls and just got underneath them," Rockies manager Bud Black said. "Good swings. But it's going to be a lot of breaking balls to Montero. We've seen that. For a younger hitter, he's going to have to make that adjustment on the breaking ball."

Kinley activated from IL

The Rockies activated relief pitcher Tyler Kinley from the 60-day IL on Tuesday, replacing Brad Hand on the roster after Colorado traded Hand to Atlanta. Kinley, 32, was outstanding in 2022 before requiring elbow surgery in July, registering a 0.75 ERA in 25 games to start the season without allowing a home run. He was one of Soto's victims in his 2023 debut, but he finished the eighth inning for Colorado without allowing another base-runner. All four batters he faced have been All-Stars.

"I wouldn't have it any other way," Kinley said. "Early in the game when I was getting ready, I was mapping it out in my head."

"(Kinley) checked all the boxes from really the time we got to spring training, when this really all started," Black said. "… There weren't any hiccups along the way."

Rockies starter Chase Anderson (shoulder strain) said he hopes to start playing catch in a couple of days, saying the optimal situation is to make seven or eight more starts this season.

Wednesday's pitching matchup

Padres RHP Joe Musgrove (10-3, 3.05 ERA) at Rockies LHP Kyle Freeland (4-11, 4.79), 1:10 p.m., ATTRM

1:10 p.m. Wednesday, Coors Field

TV: AT&T SportsNet

Radio: 850 AM/94.1 FM

In his team-leading 21st start of the season, Freeland will look to end a drought of winless outings dating back to May 14. He has hardly been efficient since then, holding a 6.31 ERA in 11 starts with 22 walks and 28 strikeouts. The offense hasn't helped, though; Freeland has the lowest run support average in the majors during that 11-start span. If there's any opponent for him to rediscover success against, it might be the Padres. Freeland has only allowed one earned run in 11 innings (0.82 ERA) across two starts vs. San Diego's star-studded lineup this season. This will be his 21st career start against the Padres, who will send one of the hottest pitchers in the National League to the mound. Musgrove boasts a streak of nine consecutive quality starts, and in his last 12 games, he has a 1.84 ERA and 72 strikeouts to just 12 walks. Only once this season has he not made it through five innings. The Rockies haven't seen Musgrove yet this year.