Chatwood stays grounded in Rockies' 5-3 win
DENVER -- Tyler Chatwood left nothing to chance Saturday.
At Coors Field, where fly balls can carry farther, Chatwood kept the ball on the ground repeatedly as the Colorado Rockies beat the San Diego Padres 5-3.
Chatwood (8-4) pitched 6 2/3 innings and got 16 outs on ground balls and none on flyouts while allowing five hits, three runs and three walks with two strikeouts.
Carlos Estevez, who is likely to be the closer after Jake McGee went on the disabled list Saturday, posted his first career save. He took over after Jason Motte stumbled in the ninth.
With runners on first and second with no outs, Estevez got Melvin Upton Jr. to fly to deep center, putting runners at the corners. Alexei Ramirez then popped to first.
Pinch-runner Travis Jankowski entered the game and broke for second but was caught stealing by Nick Hundley to end the game. Second baseman DJ LeMahieu made a sliding catch of Hundley's low throw and tagged out Jankowski.
Chatwood gave up two runs in the first, but Carlos Gonzalez hit a three-run homer in the bottom of the inning to quickly give Chatwood a lead.
After the Padres tied the score at 3 in the fifth, the Rockies again wasted no time going ahead.
Charlie Blackmon homered to lead off the bottom of the inning. LeMahieu followed with a triple and scored when Gonzalez flared a single to short left, giving him four RBIs and six in the past two games.
The Rockies did all the damage against Erik Johnson (0-1) in his Padres debut. They acquired Johnson on June 4 in the deal that sent James Shields to the Chicago White Sox.
Johnson lasted 4 2/3 innings and allowed five runs, nine hits and two walks with three strikeouts.
The two walks came to the first two batters Johnson faced, and he paid dearly for them. He took the mound with a two-run lead and after those walks, Gonzalez belted a three-run homer, his 14th home run of the season.
Chatwood gave up two runs in the first. After Wil Myers walked with one out, he dashed to third on Matt Kemp's single to left and scored on a groundout. Upton Jr. singled home a run.
The Padres tied the score at 3 in the fifth on Jon Jay's two-out single. On the throw home, Jay started to run toward second but was trapped in a rundown and tagged out on a play that went 7-5-4-3-5.
Blackmon led off the Rockies' half of the fifth with a towering home run that hit high off the foul pole in right field. It was his seventh homer of the season.
Motte got the final out in the eighth and then found trouble. He gave up a leadoff double to Kemp with a pitch and gave way to Estevez, who snuffed out the rally.
Chatwood left after yielding a two-out single in the seventh on his 91st pitch. Because Chatwood missed most of the past two seasons after undergoing his second Tommy John surgery, Rockies manager Walt Weiss has been careful not to overextend him.
Chatwood won his second straight start.
At Dodger Stadium on Monday, Chatwood allowed one hit and one run in eight innings and became the second pitcher in franchise history to throw eight or more innings and allow one or fewer hits. The other was Ubaldo Jimenez when he threw the only no-hitter in Rockies history on April 17, 2010, at Atlanta.
NOTES: Padres 3B Yangervis Solarte left the game in the fifth inning with a left thumb contusion. ... RHP Bo Weiss, whose father, Walt, is the Rockies manager, was drafted in the 29th round by the New York Yankees but will go to North Carolina, which is where his father went to college. ... Padres RHP Andrew Cashner (strained neck) was placed on the 15-day disabled list. He threw six pitches before leaving his start Friday night. The move opened a roster spot for RHP Erik Johnson, who was recalled from High Class-A Lake Elsinore to start Saturday. ... Padres RHP Luis Perdomo, who relieved Cashner and pitched 5 2/3 innings, will take his spot in the rotation. ... Rockies LHP Jake McGee (left knee inflammation) underwent an MRI on Saturday morning and was placed on the 15-day disabled list. He injured the knee Friday on the final pitch he threw to Wil Myers, who hit a three-run homer. ... Rockies RHP Carlos Estevez will move into the closer's role with McGee going on the disabled list. ... Rockies LHP Tyler Anderson was recalled from Triple-A Albuquerque where he went 1-1 with a 2.12 ERA in three starts. He will work in long relief with the Rockies and is looking to make his major league debut.