San Diego ace Blake Snell exited after seven hitless innings on Tuesday, and the Padres beat the visiting Colorado Rockies 2-0 when Xander Bogaerts hit a two-run, walk-off homer with two outs in the bottom of the ninth.
Padres pitchers took a combined no-hitter into the ninth and wound up with a three-hit shutout for the team’s sixth straight win.
Snell, a strong candidate for the National League Cy Young Award, issued four walks while striking out 10. He left after 104 pitches, having lowered his major-league-leading numbers in ERA (2.33) and opponents’ batting average (.181). Snell has a 1.26 ERA in his past 22 starts.
Robert Suarez followed Snell with a perfect eighth before Brendan Rodgers lined a single past Bogaerts at short off Josh Hader (1-3). The San Diego closer gave up another hit to Nolan Jones before getting Elias Diaz to ground to Bogaerts for an inning-ending double play.
In the bottom of the ninth, Trent Grisham drew a one-out walk off Rockies reliever Tyler Kinley (0-3) before Eguy Rosario struck out.
Bogaerts then lofted a low slider from Kinley, the ball landing just inside the left field foul pole for his 19th homer of the season.
Snell wasn’t the only notable pitching story in the contest.
Rockies starter Ryan Feltner allowed two hits and two walks with five strikeouts over five scoreless innings in his first major league appearance since sustaining a fractured skull on May 13 when he was struck on the right side of his head by a line drive from the Philadelphia Phillies’ Nick Castellanos.
The Padres failed to score in the sixth and eighth despite having a runner on third with less than two outs in both innings.
Juan Soto doubled to lead off the sixth and stole third, only to be picked off third.
Fernando Tatis Jr. doubled and stole third in the eighth, only to be thrown out at home on a grounder to third baseman Ryan McMahon. The Padres loaded the bases before Jurickson Profar grounded into an inning-ending, pitcher-to-catcher-to-first double play.
–Field Level Media