Ryan McMahon homered and drove in five runs and Kyle Freeland held the Padres scoreless until the sixth inning Thursday afternoon as the visiting Colorado Rockies defeated San Diego 7-3 to avoid being swept in a five-game series.
McMahon smacked a three-run homer with two outs in the fifth inning and a two-run double with two outs in the third to lead Colorado.
However, the key play of the game might have been turned in by Rockies left fielder Sam Hilliard when the game was scoreless in the bottom of the second.
Josh Bell singled to open the inning and Brandon Drury followed with a drive headed toward the left field seats. But Hilliard raced to the wall, turned and made a leaping catch with his glove clearly above the wall to deny Drury a homer and the Padres a 2-0 lead.
The Rockies then struck for two runs in the third and four in the fifth. Both rallies opened with back-to-back singles by Brian Serven and Charlie Blackmon and were capped with extra-base, RBI blows by McMahon.
In the third, Serven and Blackmon opened the inning with back-to-back singles off Padres starter Joe Musgrove. But Jose Iglesias lined out to short and C.J. Cron struck out before McMahon broke up the scoreless tie with a two-run double into the right field corner.
Serven and Blackmon again had back-to-back singles, this time with one out, in the Rockies’ four-run fifth. Iglesias followed with an RBI double to make it 3-0. After Cron popped out, McMahon drove his ninth homer of the season into the right field seats to make it 6-0.
Musgrove (8-5) suffered his fifth straight loss and failed to complete five innings for the first time this season. He gave up six runs on eight hits and a walk with six strikeouts in 4 2/3 innings.
Freeland (7-7) gave up two runs on six hits and four walks with seven strikeouts in 5 2/3 innings to earn the win.
The Padres scored twice in the sixth. Juan Soto opened the inning on a catchable triple that fell between center fielder Yonathan Daza and right fielder Blackmon. Bell singled home Soto and came around on singles by Wil Myers and Austin Nola.
Iglesias drove home the Rockies final run with his third hit in the ninth. Serven also finished with three hits. Machado drove in Nola after the catcher’s third hit in the bottom of the ninth.
–Field Level Media
