They held a throwback game at Coors Field on Monday night.
The event had nothing to do with old uniforms or legends at the ballpark. It had everything to do with lots of base hits, a late-game mistake by the bullpen and some bad Rockies baseball. It was the kind of baseball the Rockies played early this season.
The National League West-leading Padres won the game 8-7 in the ninth inning on a solo home run to left-center by Khalil Greene. It was Greene’s second homer of the game and the Padres’ fourth.
Greene’s winner came off closer Brian Fuentes, who was charged with his first loss since May 18 against San Francisco.
Fuentes has been on a remarkable run, converting 15 consecutive save opportunities and 23 of his past 25. But Fuentes’ 1-0 fastball, up and over the middle of the plate, was no match for Greene, who blasted it 424 feet.
“I didn’t want to let the first guy get on,” Fuentes said. “It was a cookie, and he was sitting on it. He took a good cut and hit it to the deepest part of the park, so you can’t say he just (barely) got it.”
Greene hit six homers at Coors Field last season, so Fuentes knows how dangerous Greene can be.
“I’m aware of how well he’s hit at this park, but I don’t think about it when I’m playing,” Fuentes said.
With the game tied at 7-7 entering the ninth, Fuentes was not in a save situation. But manager Clint Hurdle, short of pitchers because of injuries, hoped Fuentes would shut down the Padres.
It didn’t happen. But Hurdle said it would be unfair to lay the loss on Fuentes, who has been a major part of the Rockies’ late-season resurgence.
“We made a lot of mistakes tonight to put us in that position, so I don’t think you can hang the horns on Brian,” Hurdle said.
Monday’s game had all the classic beauty of a bad rec- league softball game. The Rockies’ infield had three errors: two by shortstop Clint Barmes and one by second baseman Aaron Miles. The Rockies’ three errors tied their season high (they have done it seven times), and provided a flashback to earlier this season when errors came in droves.
In the third, Miles’ throwing error and Barmes’ fielding error contributed to the Padres’ three-run inning.
While the Padres went deep four times, singles were the Rockies’ weapon of choice. They had 14 singles, and they also left 12 runners stranded.
Colorado’s only extra-base hit was Todd Helton’s triple off the center-field wall in the sixth. Matt Holliday drove Helton in with a single to tie the game at 7-7.
Rockies starter Sunny Kim, bidding to become part of next year’s rotation, said he hoped to stick around for seven or eight innings. He didn’t make it. The Padres bludgeoned him early and often. In 5 2/3 innings he gave up 11 hits, seven runs (six earned) and three home runs, tying a career high. Brian Giles and Greene hit solo shots off Kim in the second, and Mark Loretta hit a two-run blast to left in the sixth.
“My fastball was up and over the middle,” Kim said. “I had an OK changeup, and in the later innings I tried some offspeed pitches, because with my fastball, everything was up.”
Kim had two hits and drove in two runs. He entered the game with a grand total of five RBIs in his career. But his bat wasn’t enough.
The Rockies, off a 4-2 road trip, rallied three times after the Padres took leads. That wasn’t enough, either.
And in the bottom of the ninth, Padres closer Trevor Hoffman locked up his 36th straight save opportunity.
Staff writer Patrick Saunders can be reached at 303-820-5459 or psaunders@denverpost.com.
