Jon Gray was Superman.
The bullpen was kryptonite — again.
And the Rockies lost — again.
They took a 5-4 lead into the ninth inning, but new closer Tommy Kahnle — with an assist on a throwing error to first by catcher Nick Hundley — gave it all away as the San Diego Padres rallied for a 7-5 victory Saturday night in front of 37,554 fans at Coors Field.
“That’s a play you have to make 100 percent of the time,” Hundley said of the throw that allowed the tying run to score and put the go-ahead runs on second and third with no outs. “There is no excuse for that. You have to make that play to give us a chance to win.”
The ninth inning unfolded in ominous fashion.
Trailing 5-4, San Diego’s Derek Norris greeted Kahnle (0-1) with a double into the left-field corner and pinch-hitter Cory Spangenberg reached on an infield hit after a replay review showed he had beaten the throw to first. Next, Melvin Upton Jr. hit a dribbler in front of the plate that Hundley fielded, but he rushed his throw high above first baseman Ben Paulsen’s head, allowing Norris to score the tying run from third.
Pinch-hitter Brett Wallace followed with a tiebreaking RBI single, and Yangervis Solarte added a sacrifice fly.
The loss was the Rockies’ sixth straight and extended their losing streak against the Padres to seven games. It was the fifth time this season the Rockies lost when leading after eight innings.
“Losing games late always is frustrating,” manager Walt Weiss said. “Johnny (Gray) gave us a nice start, but we couldn’t keep the lead.”
The Padres tagged Kahnle for three runs (two earned) on three hits. Is the pressure of being the closer affecting Kahnle?
“No, I don’t think so,” Weiss said. “He’s got the type of makeup that he’s not really affected by the situation. The last couple of games, he’s had a lot of deep counts and lacked command. But I don’t think he’s affected by the situation.”
Making his third major-league start, Gray threw five impressive innings.
The 23-year-old rookie right-hander, on whom the franchise is pinning its future, allowed one run on four hits. He struck out five and didn’t walk a batter.
The Padres touched him for one run in the first, combining a leadoff single by Solarte, a single by Yonder Alonso and a sacrifice fly by Matt Kemp. From that point, Gray allowed only two hits and was never in trouble.
Following the Rockies’ blueprint to the letter, Weiss took Gray out after he had thrown just 69 pitches, 50 for strikes.
Asked before the game if he had much wiggle room regarding how long he keeps Gray on the mound, Weiss answered: “No, there are pretty specific parameters in place when he takes the mound. There may be a little bit of wiggle room, but we aren’t going to mess a whole lot with those parameters.”
Still, Gray said he was surprised to be pulled so early.
“I was sure I would pitch one more (inning), so I was ready to go,” Gray said. “I understand, so I wouldn’t say I am complaining or anything, but the competitive side of me wants to go out there and finish.”
Gray wasn’t quite as overpowering as he was in New York on Monday, when he allowed the Mets just one run on one hit over six innings. But Gray’s versatility was impressive. Under the guidance of Hundley, he mixed and matched his fastball with an effective changeup and a killer slider.
For example, Gray ended the third by striking out Kemp with an 89 mph slider. He opened the fourth by whiffing Justin Upton with an 87 mph changeup.
“Starting out the game, I really didn’t have that great stuff, so I went to my secondary stuff and tried to get some bad contact,” Gray said
Gray’s fastball velocity heated up as the game went on. He opened the game throwing 93 to 94 mph and then turned up the heat to 98 by his final inning.
It didn’t take Rockies reliever Gonzalez Germen long to undo all the good that Gray had done. In the sixth, the Padres quickly tagged German for three runs on three hits, a walk and a wild pitch to take a 4-3 lead. Jedd Gyorko’s two-run double was the key hit.
Colorado recaptured the lead, 5-4, in the sixth on a sacrifice fly by Ben Paulsen and a run-scoring single by Hundley, who went 3-for-4 and is now batting .448 (13-for-20) in eight games against the Padres, his former club.
Colorado took a short-lived 3-1 lead in the third against San Diego starter Andrew Cashner on Nolan Arenado’s two-run single to score Gray and Jose Reyes.
Patrick Saunders: psaunders@denverpost.com or
