The Padres were one of the first teams to acknowledge the fact that they were sellers at the trade deadline. The club vanquished mainstays like Chase Headley, Chris Denorfia and Huston Street while focusing on rebuilding under a new general manager. Since the All-Star break, the Padres have gone 16-8, and they ran their winning streak up to five games with a series sweep over the Colorado Rockies.
On Monday night the Padres sent rookie sensation Jesse Hahn to the mound. Hahn struggled with his location initially, but seemed to find a groove in the middle innings. The Padres grabbed an early 1-0 lead on Yonder Alonso's solo home run -- his seventh of the year. The dinger barely made it into the first few rows of the "Petco Porch" in the right field seats.
In the sixth inning, Hahn hung a curveball to Rockies outfielder Corey Dickerson, who slammed his 15th homer of the year on a three-run shot into the Gaslamp -- giving Colorado a 3-1 lead.
Top Padres prospect Rymer Liriano made his Major League debut in Monday's game, and drove in a run in the bottom of the sixth inning with a sacrifice fly. The RBI pulled the Padres within a run. Liriano went 0-2, with the aforementioned RBI in his debut.
In the seventh inning, the Padres started a rally when Abraham Almonte doubled off of Rockies reliever Boone Logan to start the inning. After a sacrifice bunt, Yangervis Solarte took a Boone offering out to left field for a go-ahead, two-run homer to put the Padres ahead, 4-3. It was Solarte's ninth homer (third with San Diego) of the year,
Joaquin Benoit struck out the side in the ninth for his sixth save of the year, to preserve San Diego's 4-3 victory.
In game two of the series, San Diego sent Cuban Odrisamer Despaigne to the mound. Despaigne had allowed 10 earned runs in his last two starts, but he was razor-sharp on Tuesday night. Despaigne carved his way through the beleaguered Rockies lineup, on his way to seven shutout innings. The Cuban-born right-hander also set a career-high with eight strikeouts.
The Padres grabbed the lead in the second inning on an RBI groundout by Alexi Amarista. Abraham Almonte gave San Diego a second run in the fourth inning on a sacrifice fly.
San Diego put the game away in the eighth inning when third baseman Chris Nelson delivered with a two-run single. Nelson also made an incredible catch, corralling a pop-up while tumbling into the stands. The play was reminiscent of a catch that Nelson made last year, while with the Yankees.
Corey Dickerson hit his 16th homer in the ninth inning off of Dale Thayer, and the Padres coasted to a 4-1 win.
The two teams finished their three-game tryst with a day game at Petco Park. San Diego sent Ian Kennedy to the mound, as the Friars were searching for the sweep.
Leading 1-0 in the fourth inning, young Rymer Liriano stepped to the plate. Liriano got a fastball in the inner half of the plate and slammed a ridiculous home run into the top deck of the Western Metal Supply building, and the Padres led 3-0. The blast traveled an estimated 427 feet and sent waves of excitement through the Padres fanbase.
The Rockies trailed 3-1 in the fifth inning, when the Rockies scored a pair of runs off of Padres starter Ian Kennedy. D.J. LeMahieu homered and Justin Morneau delivered an RBI double into the left field gap.
Yasmani Grandal gave the Padres the lead for good in the bottom half of the fifth with a sacrifice fly. San Diego added an insurance run in the bottom of the sixth inning with a homer that barely cleared the porch in left. The bomb was Almonte's second of the year.
Joaquin Benoit pitched a scoreless ninth for the save, and the Padres swept Colorado to complete the brief three-game homestand. The Padres will travel to St. Louis tomorrow to start a 10-game road trip against the Cardinals.