Padres take down Rockies 11-4

SAN DIEGO (AP) -- The San Diego Padres were worried how Jedd Gyorko would adapt to moving to shortstop. Not only has he shined with the glove, it's carried over to his offense.

Matt Kemp and Gyorko homered and James Shields pitched six innings as San Diego beat the Colorado Rockies 11-4 on Wednesday night.

"I think he is starting to realize that type of ballplayer he is," Padres interim manager Pat Murphy said. "He's capable of a lot of things. He has taken his game to another level and it is fun to see."

Gyorko, a second baseman his first two-plus years with the Padres, started his 13th game at shortstop on Wednesday. Since making the switch, he's hit .340 (16 for 47) with six home runs and 14 RBIs.

"I'm swinging the bat well right now," Gyorko said. "We are happy where I am and we just got to keep working."

The Padres had 18 hits, two shy of their season high, in winning their second straight after a four-game losing streak.

San Diego scored four runs in the third to take a 6-2 lead.

The big blow was Gyorko's three-run homer, his 14th of the season. Yangervis Solarte and Kemp reached on singles before Gyorko's blast, which extended his hitting streak to a season-high nine games.

The shot hugged the left-field foul line before turning fair, with Gyorko providing the body english at home plate.

"I looked back at it and don't remember doing what I did," he said. "I was just hoping it would stay fair."

Chris Rusin (5-8) went three innings and allowed six runs and eight hits and walked Shields with the bases loaded in the second to tie the game 2-2. Rusin lost for the sixth time in his last eight starts.

"He was having to work awfully hard all night," Rockies manager Walt Weiss said. "He didn't have his best command."

Shields (11-6) worked six innings, charged with four runs, seven hits and four walks. He struck out six in winning for the third time in his last four decisions. He went to 5-0 against the Rockies in his last six starts against them.

Murphy almost lifted Shields in the sixth with two men on, two outs and Jose Reyes at the plate. Shields got Reyes to pop up to end the threat.

"I went out to talk to him and he was pretty clear that he could get Reyes," Murphy said. "He was pretty confident and wanted that opportunity to get him, so I left him in. That is where he shows his leadership when he gets out of those big situations."

Weiss knew a wobbly Shields was having trouble.

"We had him on the ropes there in the sixth," he said. "Just one big hit away from getting to him, but we couldn't quite do it."

Bud Norris, Marcus Mateo and Odrisamer Despaigne all pitched an inning to close out Colorado, which has lost 17 of its past 21 at Petco Park.

San Diego pushed across three runs in the sixth on run-scoring singles by Wil Myers and Solarte. Kemp got his second RBI on a fielder's choice.

Myers and Solarte both got their third hits -- and RBIs -- in the seventh inning for the game's final runs.

Dustin Garneau's first major league homer with Corey Dickerson aboard in the fourth pulled the Rockies within 6-4. It was the 29th home run allowed by Shields, tied for the second-most in the majors.

After the Rockies scored two runs in the first on RBI singles by Justin Morneau and DJ Lemaheiu, Kemp hit a solo homer to slice the lead in half. Kemp ran his consecutive on-base streak to a career-best 29 games and pushed his hitting streak to seven games.

BASH BROS. II

Few lineups match the slugging tandem of Colorado's Nolan Arenado and Carlos Gonzalez. Arenado leads the NL with 37 home runs; Gonzalez has 36. Weiss was a teammate of the original Bash Bros.: Mark McGwire and Jose Canseco. "The difference is with Nolan and Carlos, they are right- and left-handed," Weiss said. "That can make it tough on pitchers going through that."

SEEING 20-20

Kemp slugged his 20th home run, the second straight year's he's hit at least 20. It's the sixth time in his career he's hit 20-plus home runs, with his career-high coming in 2011 when his 39 led the NL.

TRAINERS ROOM

PADRES: RHP Joaquin Benoit (back) remains unavailable.

ROCKIES: C Nick Hundley (neck) underwent an MRI which revealed a cervical strain. He'll be out at least three-four days.

UP NEXT

ROCKIES: LHP Jorge De La Rosa (9-6, 4.24) is making his 13th road start, pitching to a 6-4 record with a 3.22 ERA. He worked seven innings and allowed one run and six hits in winning his last time out, against the Giants on Friday.

Padres : RHP Tyson Ross (10-10, 3.21) lost his previous outing but has won two of his past three. This is the fourth time he's faced the Rockies this year, going 2-1. He last saw them on Aug. 14 at Colorado, allowing two earned runs and six hits over five innings for the win.