Colorado Rockies vs San Diego Padres Box Score on Sep 22, 2017

The Sports Xchange
Sep 23, 2017

SAN DIEGO -- The Colorado Rockies backed starting pitcher Jon Gray with three solo homers Friday night to score a 4-1 victory over the Padres at Petco Park.

The Rockies' win allowed them to gain a half-game in the race for the second National League wild-card spot.

Milwaukee lost to slip two games behind the Rockies. But St. Louis won to remain 1 1/2 games back.

Nolan Arenado, Ian Desmond and Trevor Story all homered for the Rockies, with the longest of the three traveling only 368 feet.

The right-handed Gray allowed one run on five hits and a walk with eight strikeouts in six innings to improve to 9-4. Right-hander Greg Holland picked up his 41st save.

Jordan Lyles (1-4) took the loss against his former team, giving up four runs on five hits and two walks with seven strikeouts in six innings plus two hitters. Lyles gave up all three homers, which travelled a combined distance of 1,063 feet.

Six days ago at Coors Field, Lyles gave up seven runs on eight hits and three walks over a span of four innings in his third start as a Padre. Friday night, Lyles retired the first 12 Rockies he faced, striking out five of his former teammates.

But the run ended abruptly when Arenado opened the fifth with an opposite-field homer that ended a streak of 23 straight scoreless innings for Colorado, which was coming off only the 14th set of back-to-back shutouts in franchise history.

Arenado's 35th homer of the season came on an 0-1 pitch with the ball travelling 368 feet to land in the first rows in right.

It was the first of two opposite-field homers for Colorado in the fifth. After Lyles retired Gerardo Parra and Story, Desmond lined his sixth homer of the season 342 feet into the short porch down the right-field line.

Lyles' RBI single in the bottom of the fifth halved the Rockies lead.

Erick Aybar singled to open the fifth but was thrown out by Jonathan Lucroy on a ball that bounced a short distance away from the Colorado catcher. Gray then stuck out Austin Hedges for the inning's second out.

Travis Jankowski followed with a line-drive single to left for his first hit since April 21. The outfielder suffered a fracture of his right foot the following day and spent the majority of the season on the disabled list and with Triple-A El Paso.

After Jankowski stole second, Lyles grounded a single to center.

The Rockies upped their margin to 4-1 in the seventh.

Story led off the inning with his 22nd homer, a 353-foot drive into the left-field seats to make it 3-1. Desmond then singled past Wil Myers at first, marking the end to Lyles' night.

With reliever Phil Maton on for the Padres, Desmond stole second and raced home on Lucroy's single to left.

NOTES: The Rockies were shut out in back-to-back games Wednesday and Thursday, marking only the 14th time in franchise history that the Rockies were shut out in back-to-back games and the first time since Aug. 11-12 at the New York Mets. ... The Rockies need two wins in their final three games in San Diego to post their second winning road record in franchise history. ... Rookie Padres CF Manuel Margot stole bases in three straight games through Thursday night, giving him 17 on the season. Padres manager Andy Green projects him to eventually steal 40-plus bases if his on-base percentage climbs. ... Green said the Padres would stick to their six-man rotation for the last 10 days of the season.