DENVER — The visiting clubhouse was especially populated in the hours before the Padres nickeled and dimed and bashed their way to an 8-3 win on Saturday at Coors Field.
While players normally scatter throughout ballpark facilities to address various odds and ends — visits to the pre-game spread or training room, crossword puzzles, early cage work, etc. — they’d largely gathered around one flatscreen as MLB Network broadcast the Diamondbacks’ early start in Tampa Bay.
This went a level beyond scoreboard watching.
Jake Cronenworth craned his neck upward as he pulled on his cleats below the TV. Even after the group largely dispersed as batting practice approached, players’ eyes fixated on various screens as they walked from room to room.
Only Jurickson Profar and Luis Arraez remained at the table closest to the flatscreen near the clubhouse entrance when Brandon Lowe’s sixth-inning home run widened the Rays’ lead on what turned out to be Arizona’s second loss in a row.
Neither audibly acknowledged the turn of events in Tampa Bay, but Profar raised his eyebrow upon hearing clapping from the video room down the hall. So he left to investigate and returned a short while later, smiling as he wagged his finger from side to side.
The only thing that matters is beating the team in front of them as they did to spoil a sellout crowd of 47,483 hoping to fully celebrate Todd Helton Day.
Instead, Dylan Cease pitched into the sixth inning, hitters up and down the lineup pitched in and the Padres took a one-game lead over the Diamondbacks in the race for the NL’s top wild-card spot.
Even better, they’re back to within two games of the Dodgers in the NL West.
Still, at the end of the night, it was only Aug. 17.
“We’re not naive to the fact … that we still got six weeks left in the season,” Padres manager Mike Shildt said. “We know every game counts. But the reality with this club is the mentality of every game counts started the first game of the season. And that’s the beautiful, wonderful trait about this club. It’s just normalized.
“Every day is important.”
They are also easier when Cease is on like he was at the start of Saturday’s start.
Bouncing back from an off start in Miami, he didn’t allow a hit until Ezequiel Tovar’s single to start the fourth inning. The next hit he allowed with a single to Brenton Doyle to the sixth inning, complicating matters after Tovar’s leadoff walk.
Cease walked the bases loaded before a double-play ball from Brendon Rodgers dulled the impact of Michael Toglia’s ensuing home run, cutting the Rockies’ deficit to 7-3.
Cease wound up walking (5) as many as he struck out over 5⅔ innings and watched from the bench as a rested bullpen brought it home.
“I was definitely trying to get everything in the zone,” Cease said. “I thought I did a good job of that the first three (innings) and I was a little shaky after, but it was good enough to get us a win, which I’m happy about.”
Adrián Morejón fetched the final out of the sixth after Cease was pulled after 101 pitches, Jason Adam struck out two in the seventh and Tanner Scott and Jeremiah Estrada each turned in a scoreless frame.
Cease had a leash to work with in that sixth inning because the Padres put runners on base in every inning after the first and scored in five frames.
Production up and down the lineup saw Luis Campusano homer and drive in two runs, Bryce Johnson collect the first two-RBI game of his career, Manny Machado reach base five times and Campusano, Johnson, Ha-Seong Kim and Xander Bogaerts all tally two hits.
All with All-Stars Jackson Merrill and Luis Arraez getting a day off.
“That speaks loudly, doesn’t it?” Shildt said of an all-hands win that allows the Padres to seek a franchise-record ninth straight series win on Sunday.
After Saturday’s win, the Padres are 20-5 since the start of the second half and haven’t lost consecutive games since the two losses sandwiched around the All-Star break.
“It’s fun, it’s fun,” Machado said. “This is what baseball’s made (for). It’s a fun time to be in the clubhouse, in the position that we’re in, to be able to do something special. Watching the games early on, it’s fun, man. We all love baseball. We’re all creeping. We’re all looking at the scoreboard. But at the end of the day I think this team is doing everything before we start watching those games to prepare for that, which makes it even more special to know you’ve done everything you need to do to get ready for that game and then you can sit back, mess around, watch the games and get ready for a 7 o’clock game.
“It’s a fun time in baseball, for sure.”
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