Padres 2, Rockies 1
Manager Bud Black rolled the dice and the San Diego Padres came up winners.
With the tying runner on first and San Diego nursing a one-run lead against the Rockies in the ninth inning, Black left starter Eric Stults in the game. He was rewarded when the left-hander struck out Josh Rutledge to finish off a four-hitter that gave the Padres a 2-1 victory over Colorado and snapped a 10-game losing streak.
Black went out to the mound in the ninth thinking he'd take his starter out.
''To be honest, I went out there thinking that I might make a change,'' Black said. ''I've been in those shoes before and I know what goes through a pitcher's mind. I got out there and when I hit the dirt I saw the look in his eyes . that he wasn't ready to come out. So I asked him, `How do you feel?' and he said, `I got this.'''
Stults (7-7) notched his second complete game of the season and fourth of his career. He is 4-0 with a 1.14 ERA in his last six home starts and the Padres have won each of his last seven starts at Petco Park since April 27.
''He (Black) came out and asked me how I felt,'' said Stults, who walked three and struck out five. ''I looked him straight in the eye and said `Good.' And he kind of gave me that look `Are you sure?' and I said, `Yeah.'
''I hadn't had that high a pitch count (122) in a long time,' Stults added, ''but I was sharp with most of my pitches.''
Stults had taken a 2-0 two-hit shutout into the ninth before giving up a one-out double to Willin Rosario, his second hit of the game. With two out, pinch hitter Nolan Arenado blooped a single into right scoring Rosario. That set the stage for the meeting at the mound.
Stults had a no-hitter in the fifth inning when Rutledge legged out an infield hit on a grounder to shortstop.
Jhoulys Chacin (8-4) took the loss going six innings, allowing one run on five hits with four strikeouts and two walks. The loss snapped Chacin's five-game winning streak. He had not lost since May 16.
Alexi Amarista drove in both of the Padres' runs with an RBI triple in the third off Chacin and a bases-loaded single off of Colorado reliever Wilton Lopez in the seventh.
Amarista's triple to right-center scored Everth Cabrera from first base. His single scored Will Venable, who had doubled leading off the seventh. Nick Hundley and Cabrera had singled to load the bases.
''Stults got a lot of ground ball outs,'' Rockies manager Walk Weiss said. ''We rolled over a lot of soft stuff for him. We couldn't get anything together offensively.''
NOTES: Padres general manager Josh Byrnes addressed the resignation of Padres President/CEO Tom Garfinkel on Tuesday, saying he was ''not completely surprised'' and that ''nothing has changed with me or baseball operations.'' ... Padres INF Yonder Alonso went 0 for 3 in his rehab start at 1B Monday and played six innings, reporting to Black that his right hand was fine. He could be back for the weekend series with the Giants. . Rockies OF Carlos Gonzalez was not in the starting lineup for the second consecutive game. He left Sunday's game against the Arizona Diamondbacks with an injury to his right middle finger and is day to day. ... OF Dexter Fowler, who went 0 for 3 with a walk in a rehab start Monday night at Triple-A Colorado Springs, where he played again Tuesday night, could rejoin the Rockies on Friday when they play at the Dodgers, Weiss said. Fowler has been on the disabled list since July 2 (retroactive to June 26) with a bone bruise in his right hand.