Rockies at Padres
The Colorado Rockies won their first six road games in 2015 but have since stumbled away from home. The Rockies will try to recover their initial form outside the thin air when they visit the San Diego Padres for the opener of a three-game series on Friday.
Colorado has dropped five of its last six on the road, including back-to-back losses at Arizona by a combined 21-6 in the last two contests. The Rockies are 14th in the National League in team ERA (4.62), and the starters are allowing opponents a .299 batting average after Jordan Lyles was ripped in Wednesday’s 9-1 setback. San Diego has its own pitching issues after dropping three straight to the Houston Astros by a combined 30-9. The Padres are 1-5 on their current nine-game homestand and have surrendered at least seven runs in four of those setbacks.
TV: 10:10 p.m. ET, ROOT (Colorado), FSN San Diego
PITCHING MATCHUP: Rockies RH Eddie Butler (2-1, 3.27 ERA) vs. Padres RH Ian Kennedy (0-1, 10.80)
Butler gave up more than two earned runs for the first time this season but still ended up with a win against San Francisco last Friday. The 24-year-old rookie was reached for four runs on nine hits and a pair of walks in six innings but was bailed out by the offense in a 6-4 win. Butler is making his first career start against the Padres and is 1-1 with a 2.25 ERA in two road starts this season.
Kennedy suffered a hamstring strain in his first start of the season and went to the disabled list before returning to face the Dodgers on Saturday. The 30-year-old did not make any rehab starts and was not sharp against Los Angeles, yielding eight runs on as many hits – three home runs – and one walk in 4 1/3 innings. Kennedy went 2-1 with a 3.15 ERA in three starts against Colorado last season.
WALK-OFFS
1. Padres CF Wil Myers is 5-for-13 with five runs scored in the last three games.
2. Colorado 2B D.J. LeMahieu leads the team with a .406 batting average but went 2-for-13 in a four-game set against the Padres from Apr. 20-23.
3. San Diego 2B Jedd Gyorko is 0-for-11 with four strikeouts in his last five games.