SAN DIEGO — His talent is chilling. The lapses are maddening.
One moment Ubaldo Jimenez is da Vinci. The next, he’s Etch-A-Sketchy. Saturday’s potential masterpiece was spoiled by a fourth-inning ink spill, the Rockies falling 3-2 to the San Diego Padres at Petco Park.
Months, even years from now, the night will be remembered for Greg Maddux recording his 350th victory, 15 of which have come against the Rockies. In October, if the Rockies are holding up couch springs in front of plasma TVs, this game will be a reminder of what went wrong in 2008.
The Rockies are good, particularly when their offense is caffeinated. But any chance of them contending for a postseason berth rests on the pitching staff, namely solid outings from Jimenez and the fourth and fifth starters du jour.
Jimenez showed better stamina, improved command, ridiculous stuff — he struck out a career-high 11 — and still lost. The Rockies are 1-7 in his assignments. Besides halting Colorado’s modest three-game winning streak, this defeat revealed baseball’s cruelty.
Jimenez (1-3) worked a season-high 6 2/3 innings, threw a season-high 116 pitches, but was undone by a single fourth-inning fastball that San Diego’s Adrian Gonzalez deposited over the left-field fence. On a Padres team deemed “hitless wonders who play in condo canyon” by a San Diego radio station, Gonzalez remains a constant offensive force.
He worked Jimenez into a 2-2 count with two runners aboard — both by walks. Jimenez fired heat past the beefy first baseman for a pair of strikes. The idea was to finish him off by climbing the ladder with a fastball. By the way Gonzalez swung at the final pitch of the at-bat, it hinted that he was setting up Jimenez.
Gonzalez smoked the four-seamer into the seats for his ninth home run. No one else on the Padres has more than four.
“He has great hand-eye coordination and plate coverage,” Padres manager Bud Black said. “And he hits the ball where it’s pitched.”
Gonzalez’s swing was the only blemish for Jimenez. Beyond the disappointing result, he threw all four of his pitches effectively: four-seamer, sinker, changeup and curveball.
Maddux lacked endurance, but was coldly efficient. He allowed one unearned run in six innings — his first throwing error in a year on Willy Taveras’ bunt was to blame — throwing 45 strikes in 68 pitches.
His .617 career winning percentage ranks third all-time behind only Roger Clemens and Cy Young, whose name is on an award that Maddux has won four times.
With Maddux gone, the Rockies rallied in the eighth as Taveras doubled in Clint Barmes. But Taveras was left at second base when Heath Bell struck out Matt Holliday for the final out.
Trevor Hoffman, who is grinding through perhaps his final season, worked a nervy ninth.
After walking the inning’s leadoff hitter, Todd Helton, he struck out Garrett Atkins and induced a double-play groundball from Brad Hawpe.
Troy E. Renck: 303-954-1301 or trenck@denverpost.com
