Well-rested Arenado mashes 3 HRs

DENVER — To fire up Nolan Arenado, just give him a day off.

His manager mandated he sit a game, and Arenado stewed over it for a night before taking it out on the baseball.

Arenado lined three homers as part of his five-hit afternoon and tied a career high with seven RBIs, helping the Rockies complete a three-game sweep of the Padres with an 18-4 victory Wednesday.

“I don’t like days off,” Arenado said. “I know they’re important and, obviously, I’m playing well after them.”

That’s an understatement. In games after not being in the lineup this season, the All-Star third baseman is hitting .583 with four homers and 13 RBIs.

“We’ll have to look at that a little closer,” manager Bud Black joked. “We don’t want to give him every other day off.”

Trevor Story and Charlie Blackmon also homered on a scorching day when the Rockies had a season-high 21 hits. Gerardo Parra ran his streak of reaching base to 10 straight plate appearances over three games before flying out in the fifth. He finished with four singles.

Arenado had a pair of RBI singles to start the game, followed by solo shots in the fourth and fifth innings and a three-run homer in the sixth. He had a chance at a fourth homer in the eighth and lined out to left.

“I was trying to hit a homer. That’s probably why I didn’t,” Arenado said. “The at-bats before that, I was just trying to hit the ball hard and stay on top of the baseball. They went out.”

Jon Gray (3-1) kept the Padres in check until running out of steam. The right-hander allowed all four of his runs in the sixth.

Padres starter Clayton Richard (5-10) lasted just 32⁄3 innings and gave up 11 runs, 10 earned.