Padres 8, Rockies 7: Machado, Tatis, and an Eight-Game Streak at Coors

A 6-1 lead at Coors is not a lead. It is a head start.

September 14, 2026 - Denver - Fernando Tatis Jr. hit a 449-foot homer in a four-run second. Manny Machado had already gone deep in the first. The San Diego Padres still needed Mason Miller in the ninth, because the Colorado Rockies scored in four of the last five innings and lost 8-7 anyway. Coors Field does that. San Diego's eight-game winning streak survived it.

Partly cloudy, 84 degrees. Wind 19 mph, in from left. First pitch 6:41 p.m. Attendance 14,805. The game lasted 3 hours, 2 minutes. The Padres were outhit 14-13 and still won. That is the version of a Coors night you take on the road in September.

San Diego is 82-68. The Associated Press recap said the Padres stayed 2 1/2 games ahead of Arizona for the last National League wild card and clinched a fifth straight winning season for the first time in club history. Colorado is 55-95, has lost eight in a row, and is 5-21 since August 16. The Rockies need at least eight of their last 12 to avoid a fourth straight 100-loss season, which no club has done since the Mets from 1962 through 1965, the AP recap said.

Machado in the first, Tatis in the second, 6-1 by the fifth

Machado's 28th homer of the year, and the 397th of his career, went to left in the first. 1-0. TJ Rumfield singled Hunter Goodman home in the bottom half. 1-1. Coors had its game in 20 minutes.

San Diego scored four in the second. Jackson Merrill and Xander Bogaerts reached. Jake Cronenworth singled Merrill home. Freddy Fermin hit a sacrifice fly, Bogaerts scoring. Tatis homered to center, Cronenworth aboard, 449 feet, his 22nd. 5-1. Ty France had already started the traffic. Merrill singled France home in the third. 6-1.

Tomoyuki Sugano (12-10) went five: eight hits, six runs, one walk, two strikeouts, two homers, 88 pitches. The AP recap said he is 0-5 in his last six starts. Casey Mize (6-9) went five the other way: eight hits, two runs, two walks, zero strikeouts, 75 pitches. The AP recap noted it was the fourth time in 111 big league starts he had not struck anyone out, and that it was his second win since Detroit traded him here on August 3. Five innings, two runs, no punchouts, and a W. Coors will take the last part.

Three in the sixth, then a run apiece, then Miller

Rumfield singled again in the fifth, Connor Norby scoring. 6-2. Then the sixth, which is when a 6-1 at altitude becomes a game again. Kyle Hart faced four hitters, walked two, and gave up a hit. Three runs charged to him in a third of an inning. Jake McCarthy tripled to center, Adael Amador and Ezequiel Tovar scoring. 6-5. Bradgley Rodriguez inherited the mess and got through the rest of the inning, then gave Cole Carrigg a homer to right in the seventh. 7-6 Padres after France had singled Dustin Harris home in the top half.

Harris doubled Bogaerts home in the eighth. 8-6. Norby doubled Tovar home in the bottom half. 8-7. Every inning from the sixth on had a run for somebody. Adrian Morejon got through the eighth. Miller got through the ninth: one hit, two strikeouts, 14 pitches, his 37th save in 39 chances. The AP recap said he is tied for the National League lead with St. Louis closer Riley O'Brien.

Merrill went 3-for-5, his 14th three-hit game this year, tying a career high, the AP recap said. France went 3-for-5 with a double and an RBI. Cronenworth went 2-for-3. Goodman went 2-for-3 with a double and a triple and did not drive in a run. Colorado had 14 hits and 10 left on. San Diego had 13 hits and seven left on. The club that left fewer on won.

Eight in a row, and Buehler on Tuesday

San Diego is 9-1 against the Rockies this season and has won 19 of the past 23 meetings, the AP recap said. An 8-7 at Coors does not look like a beating. It looks like a club that can survive a park that does not care about your 6-1. The Padres have the streak and the wild-card cushion. Arizona lost a walk-off the same night and is still 2 1/2 back.

Colorado has 12 games left to avoid 100 losses. Eight wins in those 12 is the number the AP recap put on the page. An 8-7 at home against a club that has owned this series is not how you start that math.

Tuesday is Walker Buehler (8-6, 4.61) against Kyle Freeland (4-10, 6.37), the AP recap said. San Diego will try for nine in a row. Colorado will try to stop eight in a row. Mize did not strike anyone out and still got the win. Miller struck out two and kept it.

AthX Engine after the baseball

AthX Engine (our projection and scoring system) put Harris at 7 hitting fantasy points. Tatis and Machado had 6 each. France had 5. Merrill and Cronenworth had 4. San Diego finished with 12 team FP, tied for fourth on Monday. Colorado finished with 5.

Fantasy points measure the night under platform scoring rules. Share prices also move with traders through dynamic pricing. They are related. They are not the same number.

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*Sources: ESPN recap and box score, MLB.com Gameday wrap, MLB.com schedule, and AthX Engine scoring. Information only; not financial advice.*