Padres, Rockies clash again in tight series

The San Diego Padres have taken the first two games of their series with the Colorado Rockies, but the 7-3 and 5-2 final scores don't tell the story of how close the games actually have been.

First-year Padres manager Craig Stammen knows both games easily could have gone the other way. The teams will meet again Saturday night in San Diego to continue the four-game set between National League West rivals.

The Padres needed 12 innings to win the opener Thursday on a Xander Bogaerts walk-off grand slam and were tied 2-2 in the bottom of the ninth Friday night before Gavin Sheets hit his second homer of the game, with two aboard, for another walk-off win.

"It's tough to win a Major League Baseball game," Stammen said. "It just is. These last two games have come down to one or two pitches."

Pitches disappearing over outfield fences the last two games is a good sign for San Diego, which seems to be finding the slugging it didn't have when it started the season at 2-5 and averaging three runs per game. Since then, the Padres have won six of seven games, averaging 5.3 runs per game.

Although the batting averages don't reflect it, the Padres have gotten contributions throughout the lineup. Luis Campusano doubled and homered Friday night, while newcomers Miguel Andujar and Nick Castellanos have supplied key hits.

"That's how we built a roster with all those guys," Stammen said. "When we give those guys that are playing most every day a day off, it's still a pretty darn good lineup out there with guys that can do damage."

Right-hander German Marquez (1-1, 4.50 ERA), in his first season with the Padres after 10 years with the Rockies, will try to prevent his former club from doing damage. Marquez will start against Colorado for the first time after making 200 starts with the team. He's coming off a 5-0 win Monday night in Pittsburgh, where he fired five scoreless innings.

The Rockies will counter with right-hander Ryan Feltner (1-0, 4.32), who got into the win column Monday after allowing four runs over 5 1/3 innings of a 9-7 decision over Houston. Feltner, who walked two and struck out one, is 0-0 with a 3.80 ERA in five career starts against San Diego.

Colorado came into Petco Park with a four-game winning streak and could have stretched it to six. The Rockies never trailed Thursday until Bogaerts' slam and rallied in the eighth inning Friday to tie the game before Sheets walked it off.

Still, the Rockies can take solace in two things.

One, All-Star catcher Hunter Goodman returned in a pinch-hitting role Friday after leaving the game the night before with a laceration to his right middle finger. The injury occurred when he was drilled by a 95 mph pitch by the Padres' Randy Vasquez.

Also, they're getting good work out of the bullpen in a setup role from Antonio Senzatela. The former starter has thrown nine scoreless innings in four games and has struck out 12, using an uptick in velocity to blow fastballs by surprised batters.

"I worked on my delivery, using my lower back and lower body," Senzatela said, "and I worked on some things throwing the ball ... how my arm is getting out."