With closer Mason Miller looming, Padres strive to cool off Rockies

If the first two weeks of the season have proved anything, it's that no pitcher is harder to hit than San Diego Padres closer Mason Miller.

With another scoreless inning to end San Diego's 8-2 win in Pittsburgh on Wednesday, Miller has 25 straight scoreless regular-season outings. During that time, he's allowed only five hits over 26 2/3 innings with 10 walks and 55 strikeouts.

San Diego hopes to give Miller another chance to extend that scoreless streak on Thursday night when it opens a four-game series against the visiting Colorado Rockies.

Acquired from the Athletics at last year's trading deadline, Miller is seven innings away from the franchise's record for consecutive scoreless innings, set 20 years ago by submarining reliever Cla Meredith. Adding a 97-mph changeup to a fastball clocked as high as 104 mph and a sharply swerving slider has made Miller all but unhittable.

Former teammate Luis Arraez is the only player this year to get a hit off Miller, who fanned 11 straight batters in a four-game stretch before Jake Mangum's grounder to third ended Wednesday's game.

That Miller got to flash his dominance at PNC Park, where he pitched while attending high school in the Pittsburgh area, made his latest outing even more special.

"It was everything I hoped for sure," Miller told MLB.com after Wednesday's game. "It's just hard to put into words ... family that's never seen me pitch. I'm glad that it worked out."

Putting right-hander Randy Vasquez (1-0, 0.75 ERA) on the mound has worked out nicely for the Padres in his first two starts. After yielding only one run in 12 innings, Vasquez will try to continue that success in the series opener on Thursday.

His recent form against Colorado makes him a good bet. Vasquez beat the Rockies three times last year, twice in September, and owns a 4.30 ERA in six career starts against them.

But this Colorado team, at least thus far, might be a tougher out than last year's hapless outfit. The Rockies carry a four-game winning streak into San Diego after routing Houston 9-1 on Wednesday to polish off its first home sweep in nearly two years.

The current winning streak for the Rockies matches their longest from last year, and their 6-6 record marks the latest they've been at .500 in a season since May 15, 2022, when they were 17-17.

"The attitude of this club is every day, no matter where we are, we want to play good baseball," manager Warren Schaeffer said. "We are not going to make it a thing and worry about the road as opposed to home. We are just going to go to San Diego and try to play a really good baseball game."

Colorado likely will use an opener on Thursday before using another pitcher for the bulk innings. That might be second-year right-hander Chase Dollander (1-1, 5.40 ERA), who filled the bulk role in a March 30 win at Toronto and a 2-1 loss Saturday against Philadelphia. The Rockies have pitched impressively over the last five games, allowing only 12 runs.

San Diego won 10 of the teams' 13 meetings last year, going 6-1 at home.

--Field Level Media