The San Diego Padres are so hot right now, not even Coors Field can do its thing against them.
San Diego became the first team since 2006 to win a road game 1-0 at Coors Field on Tuesday, defeating the Colorado Rockies for their third straight win and 11th in 12 games. Their record is now 16-7, a half-game back from the Los Angeles Dodgers for the best record in MLB.
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It was starting pitcher Randy Vásquez who mostly kept the home team down, throwing seven scoreless innings while allowing three hits, walking none and striking out five. That continues a hot start to the season for him, bringing his ERA down to 1.88.
Set-up men Jason Adam and Adrian Morejon completed the shutout, combining to strike out three in the eighth and ninth innings. Comically dominant closer Mason Miller had the day off after pitching in back-to-back games over the weekend, per Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune.
The lone run of the game came during a sixth-inning jam for Rockies right-hander Chase Dollander, who was working as the bulk guy behind opener Jimmy Herget. Dollander loaded the bases on a Jake Cronenworth double, Fernando Tatis Jr. single and Jackson Merrill hit-by-pitch, then Manny Machado drew a bases-loaded walk.
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Dollander then struck out Xander Bogaerts to end the inning. In another world, the story would praise for his nine strikeouts across six innings of on-run ball.
It was only the fourth 1-0 road win in the history Coors Field, which has a well-earned reputation for hostility toward pitchers’ ERAs. In an interesting quirk of the record book, all three of the previous 1-0 wins were in the 2006 season, per Stathead: the Philadelphia Phgillies on April 16, the St. Louis Cardinals on July 25 and the Milwaukee Brewers on Aug. 1.
For those curious, the Rockies have won eight games 1-0 at Coors Field, with the most recent coming against the Washington Nationals in 2023. They also won a game with that score in 1994, when they were playing at Mile High Stadium.
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The Padres have two more games remaining at Coors this series before heading to another hitter’s paradise, the Arizona Diamondbacks’ Chase Field.
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