September 15, 2026<\/a><\/p>\nAt the conclusion of all that, the Padres had matched their season-best win streak and kept themselves 2\u00bd games ahead of the Diamondbacks in the race for the National League\u2019s final playoff spot.<\/p>\n
The first win in the Padres\u2019 streak came against the Yankees, who are headed to the postseason. The past seven have come against three teams that entered Monday a combined 79 games below .500.<\/p>\n
The worst of those was the Rockies, who on Monday lost their eighth consecutive game and fell to 55-95.<\/p>\n
They created an abundance of traffic against Mize, who did not have a clean inning.<\/p>\n
But the Rockies scored in just the first and fifth innings against Mize, and he left with the Padres ahead 6-2.<\/p>\n
Hart replaced Mize\u00a0 to start the sixth and got the first out before walking two batters and surrendering a triple to Jake McCarthy that made it 6-4.<\/p>\n
Bradgley Rodriguez took over for Hart and got the second out, a grounder that scored McCarthy. Hunter Goodman then tripled before Rodriguez retired TJ Rumfield on a groundout.<\/p>\n
That woke the Padres\u2019 bats just enough, as they added a crucial run in each of the next two innings.<\/p>\n
\u201cHuge, just to give our relievers a little bit of cushion in this environment,\u201d Stammen said. \u201cIt\u2019s a little easier not to have to be perfect.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Padres pushed their lead back to two runs in the seventh when Dustin Harris walked, stole second base, went to third on a wild pitch and scored on Ty France\u2019s third hit of the game.<\/p>\n
But Rodriguez\u2019s first pitch in the seventh was hit over the tall right wall by former San Diego State standout Cole Carrigg.<\/p>\n
Rodriguez retired the next three batters on seven pitches to preserve the 7-6 lead.<\/p>\n
Singles by Xander Bogaerts and Freddy Fermin and a two-out double by Dustin Harris made it 8-6.<\/p>\n
Adrian Morej\u00f3n surrendered a single by Ezequiel Tovar to start the eighth, and the Rockies scored again when Norby hit a fly ball off the wall in right field just inside the painted yellow foul line.<\/p>\n
To recap, the Rockies outscored the Padres 6-2 over the final five innings after the Padres outscored them 6-1 in the first three innings.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe went up 6-1, you want to put teams away,\u201d France said. \u201cThat\u2019s a scrappy team over there. They put good at-bats together and put themselves in a position to make a comeback. You\u2019re never out of it here. So, gotta tack on as much as you can.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mize had a lot of early support, though not enough to be entirely comfortable at the mile-high ballpark where balls fly over outfield walls and also frequently fall for base hits in the spacious outfield grass.<\/p>\n
The Padres scored their first six runs against right-hander Tomoyuki Sugano, who held them to two runs over six innings at Petco Park on April 10, and 12 days later at Coors Field allowed a run in 5 \u2154 innings and got the Rockies\u2019 only victory in 10 games in the season series.<\/p>\n
Machado\u2019s second home run in two days gave the Padres a 1-0 lead in the first inning.<\/p>\n
The Rockies briefly tied the game on a pair of two-out hits in the bottom of the inning.<\/p>\n
The Padres\u2019 four-run second inning began with Merrill lining a single to right field and going to second base on Bogaerts\u2019 one-out walk. Both runners moved up two bases on Jake Cronenworth\u2019s single grounded through the right side, and Bogaerts scored on Fermin\u2019s sacrifice fly to center field.<\/p>\n
Tatis followed Fermin to the plate and added two more runs when he sent a fastball up and over the middle into a giant tree in the evergreen forest beyond center field.<\/p>\n
Another single by Merrill drove in France, who had doubled, to make it 6-1 in the third.<\/p>\n
The Rockies did not score after a leadoff double in their half of the second or another one to start their half of the third. Nor did they capitalize on having runners on first and second with one out in the fourth.<\/p>\n
They finally cracked Mize again in the fifth on a one-out double by Norby and a single by Rumfield that made it 6-2.<\/p>\n
Goodman had walked between the two hits, but Mize stranded the two runners by retiring the next two batters he faced.<\/p>\n
So much happened after that. But Mize (6-9, 3.69) got the win, and the Padres got the victory.<\/p>\n
All the rest was a means to then end the Padres seek: securing a postseason spot over the regular season\u2019s final two weeks.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s just the time of year \u2014 the time of year where you know you gotta win,\u201d France said. \u201cEspecially the position that we\u2019re in in this kind of a race, wins are all that are important, and it doesn\u2019t matter how you do it. You just gotta win.\u201d<\/p>\n
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