DENVER — Fitting, perhaps, that the Padres’ final road trip of the 2022 regular season offered this test. Here, of all places. A three-game series against the last-place Rockies at Coors Field — and all of the baggage that comes along with a Padres trip to Colorado.
Those trips have not been kind to San Diego. Including a series-opening walk-off loss on Friday night, the Padres had dropped 14 of 15 at Coors Field. But with a Wild Card race to be won, they insisted there would be no time to dwell on past results. They needed to change that narrative, whatever it took.
And, on Saturday night, they did — with the type of complete and thorough performance they desperately needed after consecutive losses had made things a bit too close for comfort in the National League playoff race.
With the win, the Padres moved back ahead of Philadelphia by half a game in the race for the second Wild Card spot. The Phillies lost to Atlanta earlier in the day. But Milwaukee’s win in Cincinnati meant that the Padres’ gap over the Brewers for the final playoff spot sits at just two games. San Diego’s magic number to clinch a playoff spot is eight.