By BERNIE WILSON
SAN DIEGO (AP) — Xander Bogaerts hit a go-ahead RBI single in the seventh inning and Martín Pérez pitched six strong innings in his debut for the San Diego Padres, who beat Colorado 3-2 on Saturday night to snap a five-game losing streak to the last-place Rockies.
The Padres have won 10 of 13 since the All-Star break. They followed up a two-game home sweep of the NL West-leading Los Angeles Dodgers by losing 5-2 to the Rockies on Friday night.
After being held to one run and one hit in six innings by rookie Tanner Gordon, the Padres broke through against reliever Peter Lambert (2-5) in the seventh.
Jake Cronenworth hit a leadoff single, Manny Machado doubled and Bogaerts singled to left to give the Padres a 2-1 lead. Rookie Jackson Merrill followed with a sacrifice fly.
“It started off the same. The guy was throwing good, a young guy, and got to the bullpen and got some guys on base,” Bogaerts said. “We started a nice rally once we got to the bullpen.”
Rockies pinch hitter Jacob Stallings homered with one out in the eighth off All-Star Tanner Scott, who was making his Padres debut after being obtained from Miami on Tuesday. That snapped Scott’s scoreless streak of 17 2/3 innings since June 17.
Pérez held the Rockies to one run and three hits, struck out seven and walked none. His only big mistake was allowing Hunter Goodman’s homer to left-center with one out in the third.
“It was awesome to go out there and do my job and we scored runs and we won the game,” Pérez said. “That’s why I’m here. I’m here to help the team win.
“The support I have from my teammates is awesome,” he added. “It makes me feel comfortable and makes me feel like I was here before. That’s really good and mentally I’m good. I think this is just the start. We’ve got to keep doing our things and we’re going to have a good future for the last two months.”
It was the first time this season the Padres started a left-hander, in their 112th game.
“Loved his pace, his control,” manager Mike Shildt said. “Good rhythm what he was doing. Everything was for quality strikes.
“It took a second to get adjusted to seeing a left-hander start a game,” Shildt added. “He was fantastic and very efficient.”
The game took just 1 hour, 59 minutes.
“We were talking about the fifth or sixth, like we went back in time for a second,” Shildt said. “We had guys that were really working quick, hitting their spots.”
Jason Adam (5-2) pitched the seventh for the win and Robert Suarez pitched the ninth for his 24th save.
Gordon, a 26-year-old rookie making his fourth start, was perfect through four innings. The Padres finally got baserunners when Gordon walked Machado leading off the fifth and allowed a single to Bogaerts. Merrill had a sacrifice bunt and David Peralta’s groundout brought in Machado to tie it at 1.
Gordon came in at 0-3 with an 8.80 ERA. He made his big league debut July 7 against Kansas City at Coors Field. He was recalled from Triple-A Albuquerque earlier in the day.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Rockies: DH Charlie Blackmon wasn’t in the starting lineup a night after suffering a bruised left eye when an errant throw by Padres second baseman Xander Bogaerts hit his left wrist and face. He said he felt fine.
UP NEXT
Rockies RHP Cal Quantrill (7-7, 4.50 ERA) and Padres RHP Matt Waldron (6-9, 3.89 ERA) are scheduled to start Sunday’s series finale. Quantrill was drafted by the Padres in 2016 and made his big league debut in 2019 before being sent to Cleveland in 2020 in the Mike Clevinger deal.
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