Grichuk, Cron power Rockies to 8-5 win over Padres

By MICHAEL KELLY
Associated Press

DENVER (AP) — Randal Grichuk doubled twice and drove in three runs, C.J. Cron had two hits in his return to the starting lineup, and the Colorado Rockies beat the San Diego Padres 8-5 on Thursday.

Cron, the Rockies’ lone All-Star selection, missed three of the last five games with a wrist injury suffered Friday night at Arizona. He had a pinch-hit single Wednesday night.

“I’m a competitor. I want to play every game so I tried to give it a go Monday,” said Cron, who made his first All-Star team in his nine-year career. “I could tolerate the pain but it was more the effect that had on my swing. You could tell that I just wasn’t myself and it was really debilitating to my swing.”

The Rockies took three of four from San Diego and have won 13 of 16 against the Padres at Coors Field since the start of last season.

“We’re definitely comfortable playing against these guys,” Cron said. “They have a great lineup and a great pitching staff yet we seem to play competitive baseball against them all the time. If you’re gonna be good against a team it’s good to pick one in your division.”

Jhoulys Chacin (4-2) worked two scoreless innings in relief of Kyle Freeland and Carlos Estévez pitched a flawless ninth for his first save. Kris Bryant was activated from the paternity list and went 0 for 4 with a walk.

Cron and Grichuk were instrumental during a three-run sixth inning that put the Rockies ahead for good. Jose Iglesias doubled against reliever Nabil Crismatt (5-2) to make it 6-5. Cron followed with a run-scoring single and Grichuk had a two-out RBI double off Luis Garcia.

San Diego’s Blake Snell pitched 3 2/3 wild innings, walking six batters and allowing five runs. The Padres issued nine walks on the day.

“When he gets ahead early and is ahead in the count then we see a different outcome,” manager Bob Melvin said. “Today he had trouble throwing strikes.

“We want to see multiple outings in a row where he does well; we saw a couple of them. This one was a step backwards.”

Grichuk had a two-run double in the second. Snell then walked two batters before Connor Joe’s sacrifice fly made it 3-0.

With two outs and a runner on first in the fourth, Snell gave up a single and three more walks to put his team behind 5-2.

The Padres rallied in the fifth. Trent Grisham led off with a homer, and Ha-Seong Kim doubled and scored on Jake Cronenworth’s single that chased Freeland. Cronenworth later scored on Jorge Alfaro’s single off Chacin to tie it.

LIGHT TOUCH

Freeland’s frustration as evident when he was pulled in the fifth inning. He grabbed a bat, sat on the bench in the dugout and struck the light on the dugout ceiling several times, shattering it. He then tossed the bat aside.

“Just didn’t like where that light was in the dugout,” Freeland said.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Padres: RHP Nick Martinez didn’t pitch out of the bullpen for the second straight game. He left Tuesday’s game with a mild ankle sprain suffered while trying to avoid a line drive.

Rockies: RHP Alex Colomé is still day to day with a mild strain at the top of his right hamstring suffered Tuesday.

UP NEXT

Padres: RHP Yu Darvish (7-4, 3.38 ERA) will open a three-game home series against Arizona on Friday night.

Rockies: RHP Germán Márquez (5-7, 5.66) will face José Quintana (2-4, 3.59) when Pittsburgh comes to town on Friday night.

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