SAN DIEGO — The San Diego Padres sponsored one of the season’s more popular promotions Tuesday night at Petco Park.
It’s called the Shirts Off Their Backs, in which the team raffles off game-worn jerseys for charity.
Rockies starting pitcher Jorge De La Rosa had no interest in the promotion. He already has their number(s).
De La Rosa took the mound having beaten the Padres eight times in his last nine decisions against them. He picked up where he left off, tossing five shutout innings before the Padres rallied for two runs in the sixth.
That prevented De La Rosa from getting the victory — a 3-2 Rockies win provided when Drew Stubbs hit his 15th home run of the season in the eighth inning — but it marked the sixth straight time the left-hander limited them to three or fewer runs.
“Jorge did a good job,” said Rockies manager Walt Weiss. “It got away from him a little bit there in the sixth when they tied it up, but he got through the inning, kept it even and put us in position to win like he almost always does.”
Rockies first baseman Justin Morneau went 1-for-4 in the game, dropping his National League-leading batting average to .319, still two points higher than Pittsburgh’s Josh Harrison.
Morneau had a two-out single to right field in the third inning off Padres starter Robbie Erlin, scoring teammate Rafael Ynoa with the game’s first run.
The Rockies made it 2-0 in the fourth inning when Brandon Barnes, Josh Rutledge and DJ LeMahieu hit back-to-back-to-back singles, Barnes coming home on LeMahieu’s hit.
De La Rosa has had tremendous success against the Padres the past five seasons, going 8-1 in 12 starts.
Weiss attributes a portion of the left-hander’s success to mixing his changeup with a cut fastball on the inner half of the plate to right-handed hitters.
“That’s a good complement for his changeup,” Weiss said before the game. “They work off each other.
“He can speed hitters up with that cutter and set up his bread and butter, which is his changeup. It’s been very effective for him.”
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The most trouble De La Rosa faced through the first five innings was from a fan in the field-level seats behind home plate who appeared to be shining a bright light from his cellphone out toward the pitcher.
Umpires stopped the game briefly in the bottom of the fifth inning and directed security to the offender to resolve the issue.
Yangervis Solarte singled after the disruption to put runners at first and second with two outs, but De La Rosa then coaxed an infield grounder from Cameron Maybin to get out of the inning.
To that point, De La Rosa had allowed just three hits.
Things unraveled for him in the sixth when the Padres collected four hits — all singles — stringing three of them together with two outs to tie the game 2-2.
But that was when Weiss said “some guys stepped up and made big plays when it counted.”
Stubbs’ homer in the eighth came off Padres reliever Dale Thayer, who had not allowed a run in his previous eight appearances (7 innings).
Stubbs had struggled in two of his previous at-bats, striking out in both the third and fifth innings.
“That was the first good swing for me,” said Stubbs. “This is a game of redemption and you have second chances. I was very unhappy with some of the at-bats I had before, so it felt good to get that one.”
In the bottom of the eighth, Barnes made a tremendous, leaping catch at the wall in left field, robbing Rene Rivera of extra bases, and possibly a home run. The play gained added significance when Yasmani Grandal followed with a single.
“We were just reviewing it,” Barnes said afterwards in the clubhouse. “It looked like it was going to hit the top of the wall and bounce over.”
But Barnes was confident he could make the play. “Anytime a ball is hit to the wall I think I have it,” he said.
Rymer Liriano’s two-out walk made things tense. But LeMahieu’s Gold Glove-caliber, diving stop at second on a hard-hit ball by Alexi Amarista ended the threat.
In the ninth, the Padres advanced the potential tying run to second base with no outs before closer LaTroy Hawkins retired the next three batters for his 23rd save.
