Rockies drop chance for series win, winning homestand in 10-8 loss to Padres

DENVER — Rockies Report, Game 26:

ROCKIES BOTTOM LINE: A chance for a series win and a winning seven-game homestand over the two NL West goliaths from Southern California evaporated when San Diego’s Gavin Sheets crushed a Victor Vodnik cutter into the right-field stands for a three-run homer, capping a five-run ninth-inning Padres explosion that dealt the Rockies a 10-8 defeat in Thursday’s getaway-day game at Coors Field.

Sheets’ blast was the final act in San Diego’s comeback from an 8-4 deficit over the final two innings, a rally that began when Juan Mejia walked Freddy Fermin with two outs and no one on in the eighth inning. Back-to-back singles followed, with the second of those by Ramón Laureano scoring Fermin to trim the Rockies’ lead by one run.

THE BIRTHDAY BOY!!! pic.twitter.com/RPYq1Bu8yN

— San Diego Padres (@Padres) April 23, 2026

Vodnik got the final out of the eighth and returned for the ninth and promptly walked San Diego center field Jackson Merrill on four pitches. Matters devolved from there, as Manny Machado, Xander Bogaerts and Miguel Andujar strung together three consecutive ground-ball singles before Sheets’ homer.

“Just trying to attack guys. Came in in the eighth, did my job,” Vodnik said. ” Tried to do the same thing in the ninth. Had a leadoff walk, didn’t execute some certain pitches. I felt like I did a good job creating some ground balls when I had to, but they got through, and the Gavin Sheets homer [was] a pitch that wasn’t well-executed, and he hit a homer, so.”

Troy Johnston singled against San Diego’s dominant closer, Mason Miller, to bring the tying run to the plate for the Rox in the bottom of the ninth, but Colorado shortstop Ezequiel Tovar promptly grounded into a double play to squelch any chance of a Rockies rally.

San Diego’s rally squandered a stellar day from Colorado’s Mickey Moniak, who clubbed first- and sixth-inning solo home runs, part of a 4-for-5 afternoon.

It was his third two-homer game of the season; one of the two previous such games came April 11 at San Diego.

Colorado fell to 10-16, including 1-6 against the Padres. Two of those six defeats to San Diego saw the decisive blow dealt by a three-run Sheets bomb in the ninth inning.

ROCKIES STARTER’S REPORT

Ryan Feltner made it through just two innings before leaving due to right triceps tightness — which he described as a “general tightness” when discussing the injury after the game. He also dealt with numbness in his fingers.

“We’ve been working on it in the training room for the past few days. It just got a little bit more tight than we would have liked in the second inning, so, we took a precaution,” Feltner said.

He allowed a single, a walk and a double to Machado, Bogaerts and Andujar to open the second inning before retiring the next three Padres batters. Andujar’s double off the wall in the left-field corner scored both San Diego runs that inning.

Feltner added that he doesn’t have an official prognosis, but “the goal” is to make his next scheduled start in Cincinnati next week.

“We’ll see what the follow-up is with him,” Rockies manager Warren Schaeffer said.

BITS AND PIECES

CASTRO LEAVES WITH KNEE ISSUE: Infielder Willi Castro departed after three innings with what Schaeffer described as tightness in the patellar tendon. “He couldn’t move very well,” Schaeffer said.

IT WAS DECIDED FOR THE ROCKIES WHEN: Tovar hit into the 5-4-3 to end the game.

NUMBER TO NOTE: 1.097 — Moniak’s OPS so far this season. He doesn’t have enough plate appearances to qualify for official consideration among MLB statistical leaders — he would need 81; he’s at 72 thanks to a season-opening stint on the injured list — but that figure ranks third among 265 players with at least 50 at-bats so far this year.

MICKEY X 2 pic.twitter.com/J44us21Ndq

— Colorado Rockies (@Rockies) April 23, 2026

WHAT’S NEXT: The Rockies head east to take on the struggling New York Mets, who snapped a 12-game losing streak Tuesday night. Michael Lorenzen will start the series opener at Citi Field, with the first pitch scheduled for 5:10 p.m. MDT on Friday night.

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