The Rockies simply can’t handle prosperity.
The National League wild-card leaders had everything going their way on a chilly Thursday night at Coors Field. Troy Tulowitzki sent a three-run homer into orbit in the first inning and starter Jason Hammel tossed an excellent 6 2/3 innings, exiting the mound with a 3-1 lead.
But they lost 5-4 to the Padres and watched their comfort zone shrink, inviting in unwanted late-season drama. And with the big, bad National League Central-leading St. Louis Cardinals coming into town tonight for a three-game series, the drama’s about to get really thick.
Thursday night’s loss trimmed the Rockies wild-card lead over the idle Braves to 3 1/2 games. The Giants, hosting the Cubs in a late game Thursday night, were looking to cut the Rockies’ lead to three games with a victory.
The loss kept the Rockies’ magic number at seven, meaning that with every victory, the number goes down by one. The Rockies can also get help. Each time the nearest team loses, the Rockies’ magic number also goes down by one.
It was the Rockies’ shaky bullpen and an offensive drought following the three-run first inning that doomed them to their seventh loss in their last 11 games. Though Ian Stewart launched a solo homer in the eighth, it wasn’t enough to rescue the Rockies late.
The Padres pushed across two in the eighth on run-scoring singles by Nick Hundley and Tony Gwynn off set-up man Rafael Betancourt, who left key pitches hanging over the plate.
The loss wasted a fine performance by Hammel. Even though he gave up just two runs on six hits and threw just 87 pitches, manager Jim Tracy pulled him in the seventh with one out and a man on first.
In came lefty Franklin Morales to face Gwynn, a left-handed hitter. Morales promptly gave up a bloop single Gwynn and loaded the bases by walking Henry Blanco. Then Morales walked Everth Cabrera, forcing in a run and cutting the Rockies’ lead to 3-2. The boos rained down as Morales left the field.
Matt Daley relieved Morales, yielding a sacrifice fly to David Eckstein that tied the game 3-3.
At the beginning of the evening, the Rockies looked ready to rip Padres starter Clayton Richard right off the mound, like Charlie Brown in the Peanuts cartoons. But Richard dusted himself off after Tulowitzki’s homer and hung around for six innings, allowing two earned runs on seven hits.
With his home run, Tulowitzki became just the sixth National League shortstop to hit 30 or more home runs in a season.
Patrick Saunders: 303-954-1428 or psaunders@denverpost.com
