The San Diego Padres probably almost forgot just what a loss felt like.
Their 8-3 loss at the Colorado Rockies on Wednesday was their third in the past 17 games and the first in six games against Colorado. The Padres will look to flip back into the win column in the finale of a three-game series at the Rockies on Thursday.
The Padres will send Matt Waldron (0-1, 14.73 ERA) to the mound while Colorado counters with Ryan Feltner (1-1, 6.00).
San Diego entered the night’s action on a three-game winning streak and having won 11 of their past 12 games.
This is the second time this season that Feltner will face San Diego. He took the loss in the Padres’ 9-5 home win on April 11 when he allowed six runs on seven hits over four innings. In six career starts against San Diego, he has an 0-1 record with a 5.20 ERA.
If the Rockies beat the Padres, they will win the series and finish the homestand 4-3 against two of the top teams in the majors. Colorado split a four-game series with the Los Angeles Dodgers before hosting San Diego.
The Rockies, who had the worst record in the majors last season, are 10-15 on the season. They did not win their 10th game on 2025 until June 2.
The two wins over Los Angeles were a confidence boost for the young team, and Jordan Beck’s 3-for-4 night Monday was needed for the struggling outfielder. He started slowly last season, hitting .150 before being optioned to the minors for 13 days, and he was batting .122 before Monday night.
“I feel like I’ve had some balls I should have hit better, and I’ve had some stuff I probably shouldn’t have swung at, too,” Beck said. “Part of that is just baseball, and part of it is a lack of being productive.”
San Diego hasn’t been scoring a lot of runs, ranking 19th in the majors in that category with 100 runs through 25 games. But the pitching has been stingy, with an ERA of 3.43 — seventh in the majors.
The wins have piled up despite a slew of injuries to the rotation, along with several ineffective starts. Waldron had one of those tough outings when he allowed six runs on eight hits over 3 2/3 innings in an 8-0 loss to the Los Angeles Angels in his season debut last Friday.
Waldron was on the injured list while recovering from hemorrhoid surgery, then tossed 12 scoreless innings in three minor league starts.
“I couldn’t have been more prepared. I couldn’t have been in a better mindset,” Waldron said after the loss. “I couldn’t have done anything except for make fewer mistakes.”
Waldron is 2-1 with a 4.67 ERA in three career starts against the Rockies.
San Diego bolstered its rotation before the Wednesday game when it signed free agent Lucas Giolito to a one-year deal. With Joe Musgrove and Nick Pivetta expected to remain out a few more weeks or longer, the Padres needed more arms.
“We’ve got a young starting pitcher that we’ve brought into the fold, hopefully in his prime,” manager Craig Stammen said of Giolioto, 31. “We’ll get him built up and get him back out here, and hopefully he can help us win.”
-Field Level Media
