DENVER – Jeff Manship impressed in his Colorado Rockies’ debut on the road last week.
His first time on the mound at Coors Field was a different story.
Manship gave up an early lead Tuesday night, and the Rockies lost 7-5 to the San Diego Padres, who rebounded from a 14-2 loss to the Rockies on Monday and beat them for just the fourth time in 15 games this season.
Nick Hundley homered and drove in two runs, Will Venable had three hits, and Jedd Gyorko also went deep for the second consecutive night for the Padres.
Charlie Culberson had two hits and two runs batted in, and Nolan Arenado and DJ LeMahieu also had two hits each for Colorado, which had its four-game winning streak snapped.
The Padres got the win despite an uncharacteristic start from left-hander Eric Stults, who was 3-0 with a 3.35 earned-run average in six career starts against the Rockies. He had been dominant against them this season, going 2-0 with a 1.13 ERA, but that changed in a hurry.
The first four Colorado batters reached in the first inning, with Wilin Rosario delivering a two-run, bases-loaded single to center to make it 2-1. One out later, Todd Helton and Culberson had RBI singles to stretch the lead to 4-1.
The four earned runs in one inning were double what Stults previously had surrendered in 16 innings against Colorado this season.
San Diego couldn’t do much against Jhoulys Chacin on Monday, but the Padres jumped on Manship (0-2) in the second inning. Hundley hit a two-run homer, Stults singled and scored on Venable’s triple, and Venable came home on Alexi Amarista’s single to give San Diego a 5-4 lead.
Gyorko made it 6-4 in the third with his 12th home run.
“I just wasn’t executing anything, really,” Manship said. “All I can take out of this outing that was positive was just the fact that I was able to get to the fifth and kind of save the bullpen. But all in all, pretty bad performance.”
It was in stark contrast to his Rockies’ debut at New York on Thursday, when Manship held the Mets to two runs and four hits in five innings of a 2-1 loss.
“One of the frustrating things about (Tuesday) was I really didn’t make an adjustment when I needed to,” Manship said. “I’m telling myself, ‘You’re flying open’ and just not making the adjustment.”
The Rockies loaded the bases with no outs in the third but came away empty when Charlie Blackmon flied out to shallow center and Manship grounded into a double play. Rosario had strained his right hamstring running the bases in the first, and Weiss didn’t want to pinch hit backup catcher Yorvit Torrealba because he might be needed to replace Rosario.
Weiss said Michael Cuddyer “wasn’t really available” after returning to the team after missing two games because of an illness, but Cuddyer did pinch hit in the fifth and bounced back to the pitcher.
Colorado got within a run in the fifth when Arenado tripled and scored on a sacrifice fly, but the Padres made it 7-5 on Ronny Cedeno’s RBI single in the sixth.
Stults left after Blackmon singled with two outs in the fifth and missed his chance for the victory. Tim Stauffer (2-1) pitched 1 1/3 scoreless innings for the win, and former Rockies’ closer Huston Street got the final four outs for his 23rd save.
