Rockies at Padres
The Colorado Rockies' bats have gone quiet and their hold on the second National League wild-card spot certainly is in jeopardy heading into Friday's game against the host San Diego Padres. The Rockies have been blanked in back-to-back contests and have dropped four in a row as both Milwaukee and St. Louis threaten to overtake them for the second wild card.
Colorado's defeat in the opener of the four-game series with the Padres leaves it one game ahead of the Brewers and 1 1/2 in front of the Cardinals with nine remaining. NL MVP candidate Nolan Arenado leads the majors with 125 RBIs but hasn't driven in a run during the slide and has knocked in just two over his last nine games. While the Rockies are struggling under pressure, San Diego has won four of its last five games and surpassed last year's victory total (68) with Thursday's 3-0 triumph. Rookie Christian Villanueva has homered in back-to-back games after recently being recalled from Triple-A El Paso, where he went deep 20 times.
TV: 10:10 p.m. ET, AT&T SportsNet-Rocky Mountain (Colorado), FSN San Diego
PITCHING MATCHUP: Rockies RH Jon Gray (8-4, 3.75 ERA) vs. Padres RH Jordan Lyles (1-3, 7.35)
Gray struck out seven and gave up two hits in five scoreless innings against San Diego in his last start before a 90-minute rain delay knocked him out of the contest. The effort continued his pattern of success against the Padres, as he is 3-2 with a 2.50 in nine career starts - including a franchise-record 16-strikeout performance in a four-hit shutout on Sept. 17, 2016. The 25-year-old Gray struggles against Wil Myers (7-for-18, one homer, two doubles) and Yangervis Solarte (4-for-12, two doubles).
Lyles is 1-1 with an 8.78 ERA in three starts for the Padres after making 33 relief appearances for Colorado before being released. His former teammates torched him for seven runs and eight hits over four innings in Saturday's 16-0 win over San Diego. The 26-year-old Lyles is 0-2 with a 7.27 ERA in five career appearances (three starts) against Colorado and has issues retiring Gerardo Parra (8-for-14, four doubles) and Carlos Gonzalez (5-for-9, one homer).
WALK-OFFS
1. Padres OF Jose Pirela (finger), who last had an at-bat on Sept. 10, was shut down for the season on Thursday.
2. Gonzalez struck out in all four at-bats in Thursday's loss.
3. San Diego CF Manuel Margot notched his third straight two-hit performance and is 7-for-14 with three walks over his last four contests.