SAN DIEGO — The clicker does not reside in Jonathan Lucroy’s locker, so the televisions hanging from the clubhouse ceilings at Petco Park flashed with ballgames from around the National League on Friday afternoon. He crossed his arms and scowled.
“If it was up to me, I’d turn off every TV here,” the Rockies’ veteran catcher said. “Just go play the game and not worry about what anybody else is doing.”
There were plenty of worrisome situations on the field and off for the Rockies before they dug out a 4-1 victory over the Padres later in the night.
The Cardinals and Brewers had crept up on Colorado like cat burglars in masks, underlining the wild in a wild-card chase just as the Rockies lost their offensive prowess.
And Jordan Lyles, the lanky right-hander discarded from Colorado’s bullpen in July, was blowing by his former team with four perfect innings. The Rockies had gone scoreless in two consecutive games prior and their 19-inning skid without a run became 23.
“It felt like two months,” Nolan Arenado said. “You hold us down two games in a row, it’s kind of a shock.”
Then Arenado hit an opposite-field solo home run to right field to pop a hole in the dam. His leadoff shot was followed three batters later by another from Ian Desmond — his sixth this season and fourth in San Diego — and the Rockies drew a crooked number on the scoreboard for the first time since Tuesday.
“We’re like, ‘Man, we have to at least score some runs,'” Arenado said. “These are bigger games. We have to do something. Us getting shut out just gives us a better chance to break out.”
Trevor Story added a line-drive homer to lead off the seventh and Lucroy drove in a run with a single to left as the Rockies carved space to catch a breath.
The Brewers fell to the Cubs in extra-innings for a second time in as many nights, falling 2 games back in a wild-card chase. The Cardinals topped the Pirates in Pittsburgh to leap-frog past Milwaukee. They remain 1 1/2 games behind Colorado.
If Friday’s slog through San Diego was not a do-or-die game, it sure felt like it. The Giants were 22 games behind the Rockies, so far down they could see roots, but they swept a two-game series against Colorado earlier this week. And the Padres, 14 games in the rear, drowned the Rox for an easy 3-0 victory Thursday.
Jon Gray, the Rockies’ right-hander, continued to thrust his team toward October, throwing six quality innings on just five hits. As he struck out eight Padres batters and walked just one.
And Gray extended to 12 games a streak of allowing three or fewer runs. That tied the second-longest mark in club history, along with Ubaldo Jimenez’s number from 2009. Jimenez threw 14 quality starts in a row in 2010. Gray will likely not reach that record. He has just one more scheduled start before the postseason.
“I feel more comfortable every time out,” Gray said. “I knew as long as I kept the same mindset, everything would work out. Our offense is too good to stay where they were at. I knew they would get out of it. They hit the ball hard.”
Lyles upset Gray’s shutout outing with a run-scoring single to center in the fifth and he fared significantly better than his last outing, a four-inning effort that resulted in seven runs and eight hits in a loss to the Rockies.
Right-hander Pat Neshek squirmed out of the seventh after relieving lefty Chris Rusin with runners on first and third. He struck out Manuel Margot and Arenado sprinted back to a cranny corner in foul territory for a nifty catch to put out San Diego Christian Villanueva, the rookie who homered the Padres to victory Thursday.
Jake McGee then pitched a 1-2-3 eighth and closer Greg Holland pitched a clean ninth for the first time since Sept. 8, tying a club record with his 41st save, matching Jose Jimenez from 2002.
The Rockies snapped a four-game skid.
“Wins like this make it feel like we’ve won five in row,” Arenado said. “It’s that big.”
