Manny Machado had four hits to boost San Diego’s offense, and Dylan Cease pitched a one-hitter into the sixth inning as the Padres bounced back from a loss to beat the Colorado Rockies 8-3 on Saturday night.
Luis Campusano hit a home run and had a single, driving in two runs, while Bryce Johnson added two hits and two RBIs for the Padres. Jake Cronenworth also drove in two runs. San Diego could win its franchise-record ninth consecutive series since the All-Star break with a win on Sunday.
“Our goal all season was to win every series. That’s very tough to do, but we’re playing really well right now,” Cronenworth said. “We had a tough loss last night, but we came back and rebounded tonight with a great win.
The goal tomorrow is everybody gets to the field focused on what we’ve got to do to win the game, win the series.”
San Diego is now within two games of the leading Los Angeles Dodgers in the NL West and is at the top of the NL wild-card standings. “It feels like every game we’re going into, we’re either right there or we’re ahead,” Cease said.
“I think we’re all feeling confident. We’re playing really good baseball and we just want to keep it rolling.”
Michael Toglia hit a home run for the Rockies, driving in two of their three runs in the sixth inning with his 20th of the season.
In the sixth inning, Cease (12-9) walked Ezequiel Tovar and Ryan McMahon around a single by Brenton Doyle, loading the bases. Tovar scored on Brendan Rodgers’ double play grounder, and Toglia then hit a home run off Cease’s 3-1 pitch, ending Cease’s night.
Cease allowed three runs on three hits in 5 2/3 innings. He struck out five but also walked five, matching a season high. “I definitely was trying to get everything in the zone,” Cease said. “I thought I did a good job of that the first three innings and then I was a little shaky after that, but it was good enough for us to get a win and I’m happy about that.”
San Diego was ahead 5-0 going into the top of the sixth inning when a couple of Colorado errors led to two unearned runs for the Padres. Campusano homered off Peter Lambert to start the eighth inning, extending San Diego’s lead to five runs.
