Dylan Cease deals, Padres offense erupts

Dylan Cease allowed a first inning run to the Colorado Rockies and that has been a recipe for disaster in recent weeks for the San Diego Padres. That was not the case for the Padres at Petco Park, Saturday. Cease locked in and did not allow another run and the San Diego offense exploded in route to an 11-3 win.

Four different Padres homered in the game and all but two starting batters had at least one hit in the contest. Fernando Tatis Jr., Luis Arraez, Manny Machado and Elias Diaz had multiple hits.

San Diego wasted no time responding to the first inning run scored by Colorado. The Padres manufactured a run in the bottom half of the inning with a single and back-to-back walks. Ramón Laureano hit a fly ball to centerfield and Arraez was able to tag up and score on the play to tie the game, 1-1.

Cease locked in and pitched a scoreless second inning and returned to the plate with the game still tied. Jake Cronenworth hit a one-out single and was at first base with two outs when Tatis Jr. strode to the plate. He worked the count full and then delivered a two-run home run to left-center field to put the Padres ahead, 3-1.

The home run by Tatis Jr. seemed to unlock the San Diego offense. Machado led off the bottom of the third inning with a solo home run to left-center field that gave the Padres a 4-1 lead.

After two line drive outs, Jackson Merrill came to the plate and hit the second home run of the bottom of the third inning to straight away center field. San Diego enjoyed a 5-1 lead after the third.

In the bottom of the fourth inning, Machado delivered a bases loaded RBI-single that scored Diaz and Tatis Jr to push the lead to 7-1. Laureano came up later in the inning with runners at second and third. He lined a double into left field that scored two more runs and gave the Padres a 9-1 lead.

Cease completed six innings and allowed just one run on five hits with a walk and six strikeouts. With Cease out of the game, the Rockies mounted a rally against relievers Kyle Hart and Bradgley Rodriguez scoring two runs in the top of the eighth.

San Diego responded immediately in the bottom half of the inning when Bryce Johnson hit a one-out, two-run home run to right-center filed to put the Padres comfortably in front 11-3 en route to the win.

San Diego completes the series with Colorado, Sunday at 1:10 p.m.

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