Pitcher Clayton Richard homered into the second deck at Coors Field and the San Diego Padres weathered Carlos Gonzalez’s disputed home run to beat the Colorado Rockies 7-6 on Monday night.
Richard connected for his third career homer as part of a five-run fourth inning, driving the first pitch he saw from Jon Gray (1-2) above the Rockies bullpen in right-center. Carlos Asuaje followed Richard with a home run, the second time this season the Padres have gone deep in successive at-bats.
Richard (1-1) allowed four runs in five innings. Brad Hand struck out the side in the ninth for his third save.
Ian Desmond, Chris Iannetta and Gonzalez homered for the Rockies. Gonzalez’s two-run drive came in the sixth off Jordan Lyles, pulled the Rockies within 7-6 and led to the ejection of Padres manager Andy Green.
Left fielder Cory Spangenberg made a leaping attempt at the wall and actually had the ball in his glove for an instant, even as a fan tried simultaneously to make a barehanded catch. The fan appeared to make some contact with the glove but backed his hands away as Spangenberg dropped back to the ground.
Spangenberg’s dangling glove hit the top of the wall and the ball bounced out, dropping into the stands. The homer was upheld on replay review, and Green was ejected after vehemently arguing over what he saw as fan interference.
Gray opened impressively, striking out the side in the first, but then quickly got into trouble. He gave up four singles around a double play, including Manuel Margot’s RBI hit in the second, and was tagged for five runs in the fourth.
Gray allowed seven runs and 10 hits in five innings.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Padres: Placed RHP Kirby Yates on the 10-day disabled list with right ankle tendinitis, retroactive to Sunday. LHP Buddy Baumann was recalled from Triple-A El Paso to shore up the bullpen. “We were looking at three, four, maybe five days before he felt comfortable going out there again, and coming out here to Colorado, we didn’t want to run into it with a short bullpen”, Green said.
Rockies: CF Charlie Blackmon was back in the starting lineup after missing Sunday’s game with a back injury. He was taken out of Saturday night’s game in the 10th inning because of back spasms. “I’m glad it cleared up quickly”, Blackmon said earlier Monday. “One game (off) here and there is sometimes a necessity.” … RHP Jeff Hoffman, on the DL with right shoulder inflammation, is slated to make his first rehab start Tuesday for Class A Lancaster.
UP NEXT
Padres: Rookie LHP Joey Lucchesi (0-0) is slated to make his first career start on the road.
Rockies: LHP Tyler Anderson (0-0) pitched six scoreless innings in his previous outing against the Padres, though he came away with a no-decision.
Spangenberg’s dangling glove hit the top of the wall and the ball bounced out, dropping into the stands. The homer was upheld on replay review, and Green was ejected after vehemently arguing over what he saw as fan interference.