Martín Pérez made his Padre debut and though he didn’t come away with the win in the Friars’ 3-2 victory Saturday, he gave them six innings of solid work.
He left with the game tied 1-1, as the Padres handed the ball to another newcomer, Jason Adam, who came away with the win over the Rockies after two Friars crossed the plate in the bottom of the seventh.
The Rockies opened the scoring against Pérez when Hunter Goodman hit a solo home run in the third. The Padres manufactured a run two innings later after a walk to Manny Machado and a single by Xander Bogaerts, the Friars’ first hit of the game against rookie Tanner Gordon.
Jackson Merrill sacrificed to get Machado and Bogaerts into scoring position and David Peralta grounded out to second to drive in Machado and tie it up.
In the decisive seventh, Bogaerts added his second knock of the day, this time sending Jake Cronenworth, who had led off the inning with a single, home to put the Padres up 2-1. With Machado, who had doubled, on third, and Bogaerts on first, Merrill hit a sacrifice fly, bringing in Machado for a 3-1 lead.
The Rockies got a run back in the eighth on a Jacob Stallings homer off yet another newcomer, Tanner Scott, but Robert Suarez shut Colorado down in the ninth for his 24th save.
The Padres obtained Pérez from the Pirates, Adam from the Rays and Scott from the Marlins ahead of Tuesday’s trade deadline.
The key for Bogaerts? Getting Gordon out of the game, then being aggressive against the Rockies bullpen. And thanks to the Padres’ refreshed relief corps, he was confident.
“With the bullpen that we have, it’s a nice feeling,” Bogaerts said in the post-game interview.
The Padres send Matt Waldron to the mound Sunday to close out the home stand before leaving on a six-game road trip against two of their recent trade partners – Pittsburgh and Miami.
Note: Photo credit, inset – Martín Pérez, acquired at the trade deadline, pitched six innings in his Padres debut. Screen shot, mlb.com/padres