Padres' Perdomo hopes to keep Rockies reeling (Apr 11, 2018)
DENVER -- The San Diego Padres will send Luis Perdomo to the mound Wednesday, hoping he can overcome his minimal but dismal history at Coors Field and that they can sweep the slumping Colorado Rockies.
Perdomo (1-1, 6.00 ERA) will be opposed by German Marquez (0-1, 6.52), who will be trying to rebound from a poor start in the Rockies' home opener Friday.
In the Padres' 5-2 victory Tuesday night, rookie left-hander Joey Lucchesi made his third career start -- first on the road -- and pitched well for the second straight start against the Rockies. He gave up a two-run, first-inning homer to Trevor Story, a batter he would have avoided facing had Lucchesi not made a bad throw on a routine play in the inning.
The Rockies, who have lost three straight games, are 1-4 on their homestand that ends Wednesday. They have scored 14 runs in those five games and are 4-for-27 with runners in scoring position, including 0-for-3 on Tuesday, and are hitting .227 overall.
"When your offense is going, you have five, six, seven guys swinging the bat well out of your 12 or 13 position players," Rockies manager Bud Black said. "We have maybe a couple. So with that, there's not going to be a lot of production ... Again, it's real early, but no matter what time of the year it shows up."
Ryan McMahon, Mike Tauchman and Pat Valaika, the Rockies' three primary bench players, are a combined 1-for-45 with 19 strikeouts. First baseman McMahon, a left-handed hitter, is expected to make his second start of the season Wednesday against the right-handed Perdomo.
Perdomo is 0-4 with a 6.68 ERA in seven games (five starts) against the Rockies and 0-1 with a 8.00 ERA in three games (one start) at Coors Field. The start was last July 17, when Perdomo gave up seven runs (five earned) on six hits and three walks in 2 1/3 innings.
After a poor first start, Perdomo rebounded at Houston and won 4-1 on Friday, allowing one run on four hits and three walks in five innings with four strikeouts.
"He was much better just all the way around," Padres manager Andy Green said. "Execution, intent, body language, competitiveness. You just felt he was going to go out there and give you absolutely everything he had. Pitched to both sides of the plate really well. He didn't have that sinking, darting fastball that he's probably not going to have here either, but he was driving pitches to his spots. And that'll have to be the approach he takes here tomorrow.
"You show up in this ballpark and you're relying on a sinker, that's probably the No. 1 pitch that's impacted by playing at altitude. Guys that drive sinkers down in the zone, they're just going to have to be precise in their spots. If he follows the recipe he had last game, he's going to have a really good start tomorrow."
Marquez's fastball command was poor Friday when he gave up seven runs on seven hits and six walks (two intentional) in 4 2/3 innings with two strikeouts and lost 8-3 to the Atlanta Braves. In five games (three starts) against the Padres, Marquez is 2-1 with a 6.30 ERA. In two games (one start) against them at Coors Field, Marquez is 1-0 with a 3.52 ERA.
Black said a well-pitched game is often a way for a team to find its way out of a hitting slump. But the Rockies got that from starter Tyler Anderson on Tuesday (two runs allowed in six innings) and were unable to capitalize as reliever Brian Shaw gave up a three-run homer to Hunter Renfroe in the seventh while the Colorado offense continued to misfire.
"We just haven't been doing what we're capable of doing throughout the whole game," Story said. "It's hard to say what it is, but we'll get it clicking."
