Jumping at the chance
ROCKIES 6, PADRES 1 Colorado, on arm of Chatwood, a game closer to third 90-win season – and playoffs
Todd Helton’s goateed appearance in deck shorts Friday for a Rocktober reunion at Coors Field underscored a pressing need for the latest iteration of the Rockies.
Only twice in the club’s history has a Colorado team reached the round number of 90 wins in a season — the Rocktober theatrics of 2007 and again in 2009.
The Rockies qualified for the postseason each time. It is a convenient bar to clear for entry.
Rockies, built with babes and playoff neophytes, entered a weekend series against the Padres with 80 victories and 15 games to play. They are trying to milk every last win out of a tense stretch run toward the postseason.
And as they squeezed 94 pitches out of Tyler Chatwood in a 6-1 victory over San Diego in front of 39,243 fans in LoDo, the Rockies moved closer to October. Colorado (81-67) is 2½ games ahead of the Milwaukee Brewers and 3½ games ahead of the St. Louis Car- dinals for the second of two wildcard playoff berths.
“I had traffic in the first two innings, but I got the two doubleplay balls and I built some momentum,” Chatwood said. “It’s big going forward.”
Chatwood will start again in San Diego next week, a site that suits him. He has a 3.41 ERA on the road this year.
“There’s some resemblance to games from him earlier this year,” Colorado manager Bud Black said. “Lot of success with the fastThese ball and cutter and he kept them honest with a curve. When he needed to throw a strike, he did.”
Chatwood’s two-run single in the second inning, followed by DJ LeMahieu‘s triple that scored two more in the frame, held for the remainder as the Rockies took advantage of a struggling Padres team that lost a fourth in a row.
“That was nice,” Chatwood said of his hit. “It got us going, then DJ hit the triple off the wall, which was huge.”
Chatwood’s return to form reached a new level as a go-to veteran starter in a rotation once hijacked by rookies. He breezed through five scoreless innings on just three hits, forcing inning-killing double plays in the first and second frames, while allowing only one baserunner to reach second base.
Wil Myers — a Rockies homewrecker this season who completed a cycle at Coors Field in April — hit a 457-foot, two-out solo
homer in the sixth inning to end Chatwood’s night. But the damage was minimal. It was Myers’ dribbler back to Chatwood in the first that led to a double-play.
In late July, Chatwood lost his rotation spot in part to significant struggles pitching in Colorado — he had a 6.25 ERA at Coors Field before Friday — and in part because of the ascension of rookies Kyle Freeland, German Marquez, Antonio Senzatela and Jeff Hoffman.
But in his past three starts, Chatwood has allowed just one run over 13M innings, on 13 hits.
Colorado’s offense was more active. With two outs in the second, the next five hitters reached base, with singles from Carlos Gonzalez and Mark Reynolds and an intentional walk to Jonathan Lucroy leading up to Chatwood’s single and LeMahieu’s triple. They tagged San Diego starter Clayton Richard for seven hits in six innings.
Nolan Arenado, who let a routine grounder through his legs for a rare error in the sixth, ripped a line drive to the left-field bleachers in the eighth to expand Colorado’s lead. It was his 34th home run this season.