The Padres fell, 3-2, to the Colorado Rockies in 10 innings Sunday, settling for a series split at Petco Park. Mark Reynolds led off the extra frame with a home run to left. It stood as the decisive blow in a game in which the Padres erased a two-run deficit and received multiple opportunities to pull ahead.
Concluding their penultimate homestand of the season, the Padres dropped to 59-84. They are 33-38 at Petco, with 10 games to go at home.
Reynolds’ 377-foot drive off Kevin Quackenbush ended a run of spotless relief for the Padres. Before the right-hander took the mound, Brandon Morrow, Ryan Buchter and Brandon Maurer each recorded three outs without allowing a hit or a walk.
For much of the afternoon, it looked as if this matchup would be determined by the starting pitchers. Neither side managed a hit before the fourth. San Diego’s Edwin Jackson retired each of the Rockies’ first nine batters. Colorado’s Chad Bettis issued a leadoff walk in the second, but that proved a momentary blip.
“He got in on our lefties a little bit,” Padres manager Andy Green said of Bettis. “The first few innings, (the at-bats) lacked any real competitiveness or fight. I thought as the game went on the at-bats were better. ... Definitely wasn’t our sharpest day offensively.”
Facing Charlie Blackmon for the second time, Jackson hung a 1-2 slider. Blackmon crushed a solo home run to right, ending a scoreless tie.
Former Padres catcher Hundley led off the fifth with a double and scored on a two-out single by Blackmon, making it 2-0.
Bettis, who threw a shutout in his previous appearance, seemed poised for another serious run at a complete game, but in the sixth, the top of the Padres’ order countered with a mix of patience and aggression. With one out, Travis Jankowski drilled a double to left-center. Attacking the very next pitch, Wil Myers clocked a triple to right. Then, on another 3-1 count, Yangervis Solarte lifted a game-tying sacrifice fly to center.
After that, the Padres offense went silent again. A seventh-inning leadoff single by Ryan Schimpf was squandered. With two on and two outs in the eighth, pinch-hitter Hector Sanchez sent a line drive to right field, but Rockies second baseman DJ LeMahieu, perfectly positioned in the shift, leapt to intercept the ball. Alexi Amarista ended regulation by striking out with a runner on second.
Jon Jay drew a leadoff walk in the bottom of the 10th, but a groundout, a strikeout and another groundout ensued, ending the game.
Jackson, who, like Bettis, was coming off a strong start, finished with six innings of two-run ball. He allowed five hits and a walk.
“I didn’t necessarily feel like I had my best stuff as far as strength-wise,” Jackson said. “I knew I wasn’t going to be able to go out and try to do it. I had to be efficient, make them put the ball in play. Six innings, two runs, you give your team a chance to win.”
Bettis went seven innings, allowing two runs on four hits and a walk.