Nolan Arenado and the Colorado Rockies found their stride at sea level.
Arenado homered for the third straight game — a two-run shot on his 28th birthday — and Jon Gray pitched seven strong innings for the Colorado Rockies, who beat the San Diego Padres 8-2 Tuesday night for a two-game sweep and their first three-game winning streak of the season.
Gray (1-3) allowed a home run in an NL-record 16th straight game when Wil Myers connected leading off the fifth, but otherwise tamed the Padres, who have lost three straight for the first time this season.
Rookie Garrett Hampson hit his first career-homer and Raimel Tapia had a two-run triple for the Rockies, whose bats came to life on the final three games of a six-game swing through San Francisco and San Diego. Prior to that, they had lost eight straight games.
Their eight runs were a season high.
“We lost the first three games and then we won the last three. To be able to say we split a road trip is not bad,” Arenado said. “Obviously you want to win them, but to split is not a bad feeling. Definitely we lost some tough games and it feels good to know we took care of business these last three.”
Said Gray: “I wouldn’t say it’s like a night and day thing, but you can tell it’s gradually coming along. We never really got to a low point, which I’m proud about. That’s because we know what we have. I think a lot of that plays into that.”
Arenado hit his first homer of the season in Sunday’s 4-0 win at San Francisco and went deep again in Monday night’s 5-2 win against the Padres.
His shot to straightaway center field off rookie left-hander Nick Margevicius (1-2) with one out provided the Rockies with their first first-inning runs this season. Their streak of 17 straight games without a run in the first inning was longest to begin a season in franchise history.
“We scored runs early. You always feel a little bit more comfortable when you score a couple runs early,” Arenado said. “I think it gives the pitcher a little more confidence, or calms him down in a way, maybe. It was a good win. We’re playing good baseball right now and we’ve got to keep it up.”
Arenado, a four-time All-Star, said birthday homers “are awesome. It felt really good. I just tried to have good at-bats. It was nice to come out with a win, a couple knocks, a homer, a couple RBIs. That was pretty cool.”
It was the 189th career homer, surpassing Troy Tulowitzki (188) for sixth place all-time in Rockies history.
Charlie Blackmon hit an RBI double in the second and Tapia a two-run triple in the third for a 5-0 lead.
Trevor Story had a career-high three stolen bases, including stealing second and then executing a double steal with Mark Reynolds ahead of Tapia’s triple.
Hampson hit a one-out homer to left in the seventh off Adam Warren. A fan threw the ball back onto the field and left fielder Wil Myers tossed it into foul territory, where a ball girl handed it to a fan despite Padres third baseman Manny Machado trying to get her attention. The Rockies were able to retrieve the ball for Hampson.
Hampson made his big league debut last year and was on his first opening day roster this year.
Gray improved to 9-3 lifetime against San Diego by holding the Padres to one run and three hits while striking out five and walking three.
Gray’s only big mistake was allowing Myers’ homer to left leading off the fifth, his fifth.
“I just got a good pitch middle in and was able to put a good swing on it. I like being able to do that,” Myers said.
The Padres had only five hits.
“If there’s one thing not to worry about it’s this offense,” Myers said. “We’ve got guys in here who are going to hit. We’ll definitely get going.”
Margevicius allowed five runs and seven hits in four innings, struck out seven and walked one.
“I think I made some pitches, didn’t make some pitches,” he said. “Up here’s that’s just going to happen. I’m going to have nights like this and it’s not all going to be good all the time. It’s something I’m going to learn from I’m sure.
“The one to Arenado was a fastball away,” he added. “It’s away but he crushes those pitches, so maybe that wasn’t the best pitch selection right there.”
UP NEXT
Rockies: Colorado returns home to open a four-game series against Philadelphia on Thursday night, with LHP Kyle Freeland (1-3, 5.40) scheduled to make the start.
MLB RECAPS TUESDAY
–Tyler Glasnow allowed two runs over seven innings in winning his fourth consecutive start to begin the season, Avisail Garcia drove in three runs, and the Tampa Bay Rays beat the Baltimore Orioles 4-2 on Tuesday night for their seventh victory in eight games. Glasnow allowed hits to six of the first 13 batters he faced, but the 6-foot-8 right-hander allowed just one hit over his final 4 2/3 innings and ended the outing by retiring 10 in a row. Baltimore first baseman Chris Davis was in the original lineup but was scratched due to illness.
— Alex Bregman hit a grand slam, Josh Reddick connected for a two-run homer against his former team, and the Houston Astros beat the Oakland Athletics 9-1 for their majors-best 10th straight win. Bregman’s second career grand slam gave Collin McHugh (3-1) all the run support he needed on the way to winning his third straight start. George Springer opened the game with a full-count drive.
— Shane Bieber struck out five and combined with three relievers to hold Seattle to six hits as the Cleveland Indians beat the Mariners 4-2 Tuesday night and stretched their winning streak to three games. The Mariners extended their major league record home-run streak to start the season to 20 games. Seattle now has 42 home runs, yet is mired in a five-game losing streak.
— Joc Pederson hit a two-run homer for the second straight game and the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Cincinnati Reds 6-1 for their third win in a row. The Dodgers lead the National League with 37 homers, having gone deep in 17 of 19 games.
— Teoscar Hernandez hit a two-out single in the seventh inning, delivering the go-ahead hit for the second straight game, as the Toronto Blue Jays beat the Minnesota Twins 6-5 on Tuesday. Justin Smoak had a two-run single, and Aaron Sanchez allowed four runs in six innings to earn the win for Toronto.
— Mike Minor threw a three-hitter for his first career shutout as the Texas Rangers beat the Los Angeles Angels 5-0. Joey Gallo and Asdrubal Cabrera both hit two-run homers. Minor limited Los Angeles to three singles while striking out seven and walking two.
— Christian Yelich welcomed hard-throwing prospect Ryan Helsley to the big leagues with a three-run homer, his eighth against St. Louis this season, to help send the Milwaukee Brewers past the Cardinals 8-4 on Tuesday night.
— Christian Walker homered leading off the ninth inning and the Arizona Diamondbacks rallied against the shaky Atlanta bullpen for a 9-6 victory. The Braves squandered a massive homer by Ronald Acuña Jr. and another strong start by Max Fried.
— Evan Longoria, Brandon Belt and Steven Duggar homered off fastballs from Stephen Strasburg, and the light-hitting San Francisco Giants powered their way to a 7-3 victory over the Washington Nationals. The Giants came in with a grand total of 10 homers through their first 17 games, which ranked 29th of 30 major league clubs.
— Starling Marte hit a two-run homer in the 10th inning to lift the Pittsburgh Pirates to a 5-3 victory over the Detroit Tigers. Jung Ho Kang also went deep for Pittsburgh, which blew a 3-0 lead but recovered to win.
— James Paxton struck out 12 in his first stab at baseball’s biggest rivalry, Red Sox ace Chris Sale found his fastball but not better results, and the New York Yankees three-hit Boston 8-0 in the first game this season between the struggling AL East foes.
— Scott Kingery and J.T. Realmuto each had three hits and five RBIs, helping the Philadelphia Phillies cruise to a 14-3 victory over the New York Mets. Kingery and Maikel Franco hit three-run homers and Realmuto had a pair of two-run doubles in a 10-run first inning.
— Jose Quintana gave up six hits in seven innings to lead the Chicago Cubs to a 4-0 victory over the Miami Marlins. Quintana struck out seven and extended his scoreless innings streak to 14. Javier Baez went 3 for 4 and hit his fifth homer. Baez has three hits in each of his last three games.