San Diego – Jeff Francis was chasing history and instead collided with humility. Baseball is cruel like that, sparing no one embarrassment.
On an August night that could have October ramifications, Francis veered off course as the Rockies fell 8-0 to the San Diego Padres on Tuesday night.
Francis was trying to become the first Rockies’ starter ever and first National League starter this season to win nine straight decisions.
Instead, he suffered arguably his worst loss ever, matching career lows for innings pitched (3 1/3) and earned runs allowed (eight). Making matters worse, the Rockies likely lost center fielder Willy Taveras to the disabled list. Taveras came out before the bottom of the fourth inning after appearing to re-aggravate his right quadriceps injury running the bases in the third inning.
There was no subtlety in Francis’ failure, a collapse that dropped the Rockies three games behind the Padres in the wild-card standings and left them stuck five games back from the division-leading Arizona Diamondbacks.
For all intents and purposes, the outcome was decided in a forgettable second inning. Francis threw 46 pitches – just 21 of which were strikes — issued five walks and allowed two hits to former Evergreen prep star Kevin Kouzmanoff. It was a bad time for his first bad game since April, buttressing Tim Harikkala’s 10-out Sunday performance.
If there was a sliver through the black clouds it was that the bullpen didn’t allow a run.
San Diego’s Greg Maddux worked 5 2/3 scoreless innings for this 341st win as the Rockies were shut out for the first time since July 22.
Staff writer Troy E. Renck can be reached at 303-954-1301 or trenck@denverpost.com.
