Rockies hope warmer weather heats up bats vs. Padres

The Colorado Rockies endured snow and cold in their unusual weekend of home baseball, and now face a familiar opponent with warmer weather in the forecast in Denver.

A snowstorm that hit Colorado caused the postponement of Friday night's game against the Seattle Mariners, which forced the teams to play a split doubleheader on Sunday — a day after playing Saturday night with temperatures in the low 30s.

The Rockies won Sunday's first game, 2-1 in 10 innings, and had a chance to secure their first series victory of the year but dropped the nightcap 10-2.

They continue their homestand with four games against the San Diego Padres, beginning Monday night. Colorado lefty Austin Gomber (0-1, 4.95 ERA) will take the mound against San Diego right-hander Dylan Cease (2-1, 1.99) to kick off the series.

The Rockies hold the worst record in the National League. They haven't won consecutive games yet this season and just came off a stretch where they went 19 1/3 innings without a run before scoring twice in the 10th inning of Sunday's first game.

"As tough as it has been these first 21 games, there's a pretty good resiliency to the group," Colorado manager Bud Black said after the first game Sunday. "For me, that's not surprising."

One of the resilient players is Gomber, who grinded through his first four starts but doesn't have a win to show for it. He has faced the Padres 12 times in his career and is 2-3 with a 3.61 ERA in those outings.

He struggled against San Diego last year, going 0-2 with a 6.75 ERA in three starts while facing the NL West rivals.

The Padres are trying to get back to the postseason, where they nearly reached the World Series in 2022. There have been significant changes in San Diego, most notably Juan Soto moving on to the New York Yankees and Mike Shildt replacing Bob Melvin as manager after the latter took over in San Francisco.

One who is still around is Gold Glove outfielder Fernando Tatis Jr., and he was flashing the leather in Sunday's 6-3 win over the Toronto Blue Jays. He made two running catches to end scoring threats, the last one in the eighth inning to rob George Springer of extra bases.

"It's part of the work. That's why we keep working hard. We don't take it for granted," Tatis said after the win. "When you're in the game no matter what, you're trying to play defense for that pitcher on the mound."

Shildt summed up Tatis' defense as "routine greatness."

He'll be playing defense for Cease at Coors Field on Monday night. Cease is in his first season with the Padres after spending his first five years with the Chicago White Sox. He is 0-1 with a 6.52 ERA in his two career against the Rockies, and got a no-decision in his one start in Denver when he allowed five runs in 4 2/3 innings against them.

—Field Level Media