San Diego @ Colorado preview
Coors Field
Last Meeting ( Sep 14, 2010 ) San Diego 7, Colorado 6
Just as it looked like the San Diego Padres were on the verge of a huge collapse down the stretch, they have pulled it together to extend their lead in the National League West.
The Padres will look to complete a three-game sweep over the Colorado Rockies on Wednesday.
San Diego arrived in Colorado having lost three of its last four. The 6 ½-game lead the Padres had at the top of the NL West in late August had all but disappeared. Meanwhile, the Rockies were riding a 10-game winning streak.
But with two wins at Coors Field, the Padres (82-62) now have a 3 ½-game lead over the third-place Rockies and a 1 ½-game lead over the second-place San Francisco Giants. The Rockies (79-66) are also 3 ½ games back in the NL wild card race.
San Diego’s offense has come to life in this series, putting up 13 runs and 27 hits. Five Padres had at least two hits on Tuesday and Matt Stairs delivered a pinch-hit two-run homer. San Diego is hitting just .249 as a team and averaging only 4.24 runs per game.
The Padres send Clayton Richard (12-7, 3.36 ERA) to the mound looking to complete their first three-game sweep at Coors Field since 2001. Richard has a 1.64 ERA over his last six starts, but he hasn’t had much help from the offense, going 0-1 over the last three.
The 6-foot-5 lefty gave up just two hits and an earned run over six innings in his last outing, but was stuck with a 1-0 loss to San Francisco.
Richard will have his hands full with the heart of Colorado’s batting order. Carlos Gonzalez, who is making a strong case for the NL MVP, had three hits and three RBIs on Tuesday and is now 7-for-12 with four runs knocked in over the last three games. The center fielder leads the NL with a .340 batting average to go along with 32 home runs and 104 RBIs.
Troy Tulowitzki, the NL’s reigning player of the week, is riding a 7-for-22 streak at the plate. He has four homers and seven RBIs over that stretch.
Colorado counters with Jorge De La Rosa (7-4, 4.10 ERA), who hasn’t lost since Aug. 19. He struck out 10 over and allowed two runs over six innings in dropping the Arizona Diamondbacks 13-4 in his last start. De La Rosa hasn’t allowed more than three runs in any of his last 10 starts and is 2-0 with a 3.63 ERA against San Diego this season.