Rockies 9, Padres 3: Carrigg's Second Homer Snaps San Diego's Eight-Game Streak

A 13-pitch at-bat, a belt-high fastball, and an eight-game streak on the floor

September 15, 2026 - Denver - Cole Carrigg fouled off 10 pitches. The 13th was a belt-high fastball from Randy Vásquez, and Carrigg hit it to the right-field seats for his second homer of the night. Brett Sullivan scored. Jake McCarthy scored. The Colorado Rockies led 7-3 in the sixth, and the San Diego Padres never got the lead back. Colorado won 9-3 and snapped San Diego's eight-game winning streak.

Partly cloudy, 72 degrees. Wind 4 mph, right to left. First pitch 6:40 p.m. Attendance 15,115. The game lasted 2 hours, 31 minutes. The Rockies had 16 hits. The Padres had 11. Colorado is 56-95. San Diego is 82-69. The MLB recap said the Padres had matched their season-high winning streak, the first time in franchise history they had two streaks of at least eight games in the same season. They could not make it nine.

Tatis at 455 feet, then Carrigg tying it, then the sixth

Fernando Tatis Jr. led off the game with a 455-foot homer to left, his 23rd, the MLB recap said. 1-0. Luis Campusano homered in the second, his eighth. 2-0. For two innings it looked like Coors was going to be another Padres night. Walker Buehler was matching the homers with outs.

Carrigg tied it in the third. Adael Amador scored ahead of him on a fly ball to right, Carrigg's ninth homer. 2-2. Austin Hays put San Diego back in front in the fifth with his third homer, a line drive to left. 3-2. That was the last time the Padres led. Buehler left after 4 2/3: seven hits, two runs, one walk, one strikeout, one homer, 92 pitches. The MLB recap said San Diego had ridden its high-leverage relievers hard through four straight games that started big and got tight. Tuesday, those arms were not available for the middle innings.

Wandy Peralta inherited the sixth. Mickey Moniak had already tripled. Troy Johnston doubled him home. 3-3. Sullivan singled Johnston home. 3-4. Peralta lasted two-thirds of an inning: four hits, four runs. Vásquez came on with two outs, lost the 13-pitch fight to Carrigg, and watched the second homer leave. 3-7. Carrigg's 10th. Three RBI in one swing. The inning that ended the streak.

Feltner through five scoreless, Freeland through the homers

Ryan Feltner threw five shutout innings before the Rockies had the lead for good. Three hits. One walk. Five strikeouts. 61 pitches. He handed a 2-0 deficit to a lineup that tied it, then took the win when the sixth inning finished the job. Kyle Freeland threw four innings after him: eight hits, three runs, three homers, 50 pitches. Tatis, Campusano, and Hays all went deep against him. He still left with a 9-3. Coors will do that when your own lineup scores nine.

Johnston went 3-for-3 with two doubles, a hit-by-pitch, and two RBI. Carrigg went 4-for-5 with two homers, a double, two runs, and five RBI. McCarthy had two hits and scored. TJ Rumfield had two hits. Kyle Karros scored in the seventh. Johnston doubled him home. 3-8. Zac Veen singled Ezequiel Tovar in. 3-9. Sixteen hits. Five in the sixth. Two more in the seventh. The Rockies did not need a clean inning from Freeland. They needed Carrigg's 4-for-5, and they had it.

Tatis, Campusano, and Hays each homered. Jackson Merrill had two hits. Manny Machado singled and walked. Xander Bogaerts and Jake Cronenworth each had a hit. Eleven hits and three homers is a night San Diego usually wins. It lost because the sixth inning belonged to a Rockies outfielder who would not chase the 13th pitch until it sat in the middle of the plate.

A Wild Card that tightened while the streak died

The MLB recap laid out the standings math. Arizona had a chance to cut San Diego's lead for the last National League Wild Card to 1 1/2 games, then lost in 11 when Esteury Ruiz doubled in three for Miami. The Padres' edge stayed at 2 1/2. They still missed a night when the Cubs and Phillies both lost, a night that could have pulled them even in the loss column in the race for home Wild Card games. They trail Chicago by 1 1/2 and Philadelphia by one, without the tiebreaker against either, the MLB recap said.

Tatis told the MLB recap he felt good yesterday and not today. That is the honest version of an eight-game streak ending at Coors. Manager Craig Stammen pointed at how the club had played over the last two weeks, and at a bullpen that finally got caught. Both can be true. Colorado is 56-95 and still took a playoff race and put a 9-3 on it.

The series stays in Denver. Feltner got the win. Peralta took the loss. Carrigg's 4-for-5 was the card. The Padres have to start a new streak. The Rockies already ended the old one.

AthX Engine after the baseball

AthX Engine (our projection and scoring system) put Carrigg at 16 hitting fantasy points, first on the Tuesday hitter board. Feltner had 18 pitching FP. Johnston had 9 hitting FP. Colorado finished with 18 team FP, tied with the Yankees for third. San Diego finished at minus-4.

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.*