Padres 1, Rockies 0: The Rockies finish on the wrong side of a pitching masterclass
The pitching was brilliant. The offense was not.
DENVER, CO - APRIL 21: Relief pitcher Chase Dollander #32 of the Colorado Rockies looks on after walking in a run in the sixth inning against the San Diego Padres at Coors Field on April 21, 2026 in Denver, Colorado. (Photo by Justin Edmonds/Getty Images) | Getty Images When the San Diego Padres and Colorado Rockies get together, anything can happen, especially at Coors Field where games can quickly escalate into unruly slugfests. That wasn’t the case tonight, however, when both teams’ pitching staffs silenced the opposing team’s offense in a game that can only be described as almost meticulous in its pitching.
In the end, however, the Padres managed to eke out a 1-0 run win to kick off the three-game series in what would be only the 12th 1-0 game in the history of Coors Field, and just the fourth time the Rockies were on the losing end of one. (It last happened in 2006, when it happened three times! ) A Rockies pitching clinic Opener Jimmy Herget got the game off to a sparkling start by striking out the side (Ramón Laureano, Fernando Tatís Jr.
, and Jackson Merrill) on a tidy 14 pitches, 10 for strikes. Chase Dollander took the mound in the second and was absolutely on fire with his slider and four-seamer especially effective. In the third inning, Dollander struck out Laureano which began a string of six consecutive Ks until Miguel Andujar grounded out in the fifth.
(For those keeping score at home, Germán Márquez set the Rockies record for consecutive strikeouts in 2018 with eight. ) The Padres did not have a player in scoring position until Jake Cronenberg hit a double in the sixth inning. And that’s when things got complicated for Dollander.
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