Dylan Cease pitched seven dominant innings for his third straight win as the San Diego Padres edged the Colorado Rockies 3-1 in Denver on Monday night.
Cease (3-1) gave up just one hit and one run. He didn’t issue a walk and recorded eight strikeouts, firing a 98-mph fastball past Elias Diaz on his 90th and final pitch of the night.
Enyel De Los Santos worked a scoreless eighth and Robert Suarez got the final three outs of the game for his eighth save. Suarez got Ryan McMahon to ground into a game-ending double play with runners at the corners.
San Diego broke a 1-1 tie in the top of the eighth with two two-out runs off reliever Nick Mears (0-2).
Luis Campusano doubled down the left field line and scored when pinch hitter Tyler Wade laced a single to right, with Wade advancing to second on the play. Wade then scored when rookie Jackson Merrill chopped a single between third and short.
Colorado starter Austin Gomber lasted five innings, permitting four hits and a run, with three walks and two strikeouts. But the Rockies were held to two runs or fewer for the fourth straight game on their seven-game homestand.
Colorado has trailed in each of its first 23 games of the season.
Pitching dominated most of the game, as Cease and Gomber maneuvered their way through the opposing lineups, although Gomber had to deal with a bit more traffic.
San Diego got on the board in the third with a two-out RBI single to left by Jurickson Profar.
The Rockies tied it in the fourth after Charlie Blackmon doubled to right-center. Ezequiel Tovar bunted him to third, and McMahon drove him home with a sacrifice fly to left.
The Padres mounted a two-out threat in the seventh when Fernando Tatis Jr. tripled off the right field wall, but Jake Cronenworth flied out to center, ending the inning.
