COLORADO ROCKIES NOTES:

OPEN FOR BUSINESS
• The Colorado Rockies suffered their first loss of the season last night, falling to the Padres 8-4.

• A win today would be the Rockies’ third in their first four games … have started a season winning at least three of four 11 times in franchise history, including last year.

• Following today’s game, the Rockies will play two games at Dodger Stadium to finish their first road trip of the season.

• The Rockies return home to Coors Field on Thursday for their Home Opener against the Washington Nationals … will play four against the Nationals and three against the St. Louis Cardinals to begin the 2023 home slate.

TIME FLIES WHEN YOU’RE HAVING FUN
• Each of the Rockies’ first three games of the season have come under three hours … Friday’s game time of 2:27 would have been the Rockies’ sixth-fastest game of the 2022 season.

OPEN ROAD
• The Rockies went 10-9 against the Padres during the 2022 season, including a 3-6 record at Petco Park vs. a 7-3 record at Coors Field … Rockies pitchers recorded a 5.36 ERA against San Diego while the offense scored an average of 4.8 runs per game.

• Since June 14, 2021 the Rockies have gone 22-13 against the Padres, outscoring them 168-163 … the Rockies are 13-6 vs. the Padres over that span in games decided by three or fewer runs.

• A win today will give the Rockies their first series win at Petco Park since July 9-11, 2021 and their first series win in a four-game set at Petco Park since April 2-5, 2018.

• Since losing eight-straight here in San Diego from Sept. 7, 2019 through July 9, 2021, the Rockies have gone 9-9 at Petco Park … they are 39-66 in all other road games over that same span.

CRON ZONE
• C.J. Cron went 2-for-4 with a double and a home run Saturday and is now 7-for-11 with two doubles and three home runs through the first three games … is the eighth player (ninth time, Dante Bichette twice) in franchise history to begin a season with at least seven hits through the team’s first three games, the first since Carlos González went 8-for-15 across the first three games of the 2015 season.

• Cron is the first player in franchise history with at least seven hits and three home runs through the first three games of a season … the last player in the Majors with at least seven hits and three home runs through a teams first three games was Cody Bellinger with the Dodgers in 2019.

MEAT OF THE ORDER
• Kris Bryant, Charlie Blackmon and C.J Cron, who have hit two-three-four in the batting lineup each of the first three games, have combined to go 18-for-35 (.514) with five doubles, four home runs, 11 RBI, four walks and five strikeouts through the first three games … five through nine in the Rockies lineup have combined to go 11-for-61 (.180) with three doubles, one home run, four RBI, three walks and 21 strikeouts.

OPEN ROAD
• A win today would give the Rockies a road series win after winning just five total road series in 2022 … they also won each of their first two road series of last season, sweeping Texas in two games April 11-12 and taking two of three from Detroit April 23-24

OPEN BOOK
• On Thursday, Charlie Blackmon made his 10th career Opening Day start, surpassing Troy Tulowitzki (nine) and Carlos González (nine) for the second-most Opening Day starts behind Todd Helton’s 16.

• The 2023 season is Blackmon’s 13th on the Rockies’ Major League roster, the second-most seasons in Rockies history behind Todd Helton’s 17.

26 ROCKIES STARTING PITCHER AUSTIN GOMBER LHP

HI, I’M AUSTIN
• Winter Garden, Fla., native enters his 10th professional season, his fifth in the Majors and his third with the Rockies.

• Acquired by Colorado, along with four other players including INF Elehuris Montero in exchange for 3B Nolan Arenado.

• Originally selected by St. Louis in the fourth round of the 2014 First-Year Player Draft out of Florida Atlantic University.

SPRING FORTH
• Made five Spring starts, going 2-1 with a 3.78 ERA (16.2 IP, 7 ER), six walks and 10 strikeouts.

• Last start of Spring came on March 26 … tossed five scoreless innings at Chicago-AL.

POWERLESS PADS
• Made one start and two relief appearances against the Padres in 2022, going 1-0 while allowing one run across 9.1 innings with three walks and seven strikeouts … made his lone start July 12 at Coors Field and allowed one run across six innings in a 5-3 Rockies win.

• In nine career appearances (five starts) against the Padres has gone 2-1 with a 2.01 ERA (31.1 IP, 7 ER), seven walks and 28 strikeouts … has not allowed a home run to a Padres batter while limiting them to 25 total hits (.212 average).

• Is 0-1 with a 4.66 ERA (9.1 IP, 5 ER) in two starts and one relief appearance at Petco Park … four of his runs came in a one inning start on Aug. 1, 2021.

GO GO GOMBER
• Last season, made 17 starts and 16 appearances out of the bullpen in his second season as a Rockie … went 5-7 (Rockies 9-24) while posting a
combined 5.56 ERA (124.2 IP, 77 ER) across his 33 appearances … his 124.2 innings pitched set a new career-high.

• Began the season in the Rockies rotation, making 12 starts through June 15 and going 3-7 with a 6.43 ERA (63.0 IP, 45 ER), 20 walks and 49 strikeouts.

• Moved to the bullpen at the end of June and made two relief appearances June 22 at Miami and June 26 at Minnesota … allowed four runs over a
combined 4.1 innings (8.31 ERA).

• Went back to the rotation in July and made four starts prior to the AllStar Break, going 2-0 with a 4.15 ERA (21.2 IP, 10 ER), four walks and 15 strikeouts … allowed three or fewer runs in each of his last three starts prior to the Break, pitching to a 3.38 ERA (16.0 IP, 6 ER).

• Returned to the bullpen following the All-Star Break and posted a 4.68 ERA (32.2 IP, 17 ER) with seven walks and 24 strikeouts across 14 relief outings in the second half.

START IT UP
• As a starter in 2022, went 5-7 (Rockies 7-10) across 17 starts while pitching to a 5.75 clip (87.2 IP, 56 ER) … walked 25 and struck out 68 while opponents hit .292 (101-for-346) with 13 home runs … seven of his starts were quality.

• Posted a 5.72 ERA (50.1 IP, 32 ER) with 14 walks and 32 strikeouts across nine starts at Coors Field … 5.79 ERA (37.1 IP, 24 ER) with 11 walks and 36 strikeouts in eight starts on the road.

• 8.68 SO/9 on the road compared to a 5.72 SO/9 at home.

BACK IT UP
• Made 16 appearances out of the bullpen, his most since 18 relief outings as a rookie with St. Louis in 2018 … posted a 5.11 ERA (37.0 IP, 21 ER) out of the bullpen with nine walks and 27 strikeouts … opponents hit .254 (36-for-142) with seven home runs.

• Made 12 appearances of two or more innings, four with three or more innings and one career-long outing of 4.2 IP (Aug. 24 vs. TEX; H, BB, 2 SO).

• In his outing against Texas on Aug. 24, became the first Rockie in history to toss 4.2 or more scoreless frames out of the ‘pen while allowing one or fewer hits.

ON YOUR LEFT
• Held opposing left-handed hitters to a .221 average last season (30-for136), the lowest lefty opponent average by a Rockies left-hander since Kyle Freeland in 2018 (.185) and the ninth-lowest in a single season in franchise history (min. 140 batters faced).

HAPPY HOME VS. ROCKY ROAD
• In 49 career home games (24 starts) with both St. Louis and Colorado, is 11-7 with a 3.93 ERA (165.0 IP, 72 ER).

• Since joining the Rockies, has gone 8-5 with a 4.00 ERA (119.1 IP, 53 ER) at Coors Field with 29 walks and 84 strikeouts … in 2021, went 5-1 with a 2.09 ERA (47.1 IP, 11 ER) in nine starts at home, posting a 0.95 WHIP.

• Since 2020, is 8-5 with a 3.65 clip (133.0 IP, 54 ER) in 33 games (20 starts) in his home ballpark … in road games through the same span, is 7-12 with a 5.76 ERA (136.0 IP, 87 ER) in 37 games (24 starts).

WALK IT OUT…OR DON’T
• 2.45 BB/9 in 2022 was the lowest of his career while his 2.79 SO/BB ratio was his highest … BB/9 was the sixth-lowest among National League lefties and his SO/BB ratio ranked 10th (min. 120.0 IP).

• Did not issue a walk in seven-straight relief outings from Aug. 31-Sept. 29, the longest single-season streak by a Rockies lefty since James Pazos from Sept. 6-28, 2019 (seven games).

• Has walked two or more batters 17 times in 39 starts over the past two seasons since joining the Rockies, going 2-10 with an 8.28 ERA (75.0 IP, 69 ER) in those starts … has walked one or fewer batters 23 times over that span, going 12-6 with a 3.16 ERA (128.0 IP, 45 ER) in those starts.

EARLY GOINGS
• Of his 52 career Minor League starts in which he pitched six or more innings, 49 were quality starts and 13 were scoreless.

• Made his Major League debut on June 2, 2018 vs. Pittsburgh and pitched three scoreless, hitless innings of relief for the Cardinals.

• In 2018, became the first Cardinals rookie left-hander since 1912 to win five games in the month of August … did not allow a hit to the first 14 right-handed batters he faced prior to June 25 (Rajai Davis, ninth-inning single).

SAN DIEGO PADRES NOTES:

On San Diego Super Bowl Saturday, San Diego State advances to the championship & Padres win their 1st game of 2023

• Xander Bogaerts hit his 1st home run as a Padre with a 2-run shot in the 1st inning, and Trent Grisham, Matt Carpenter, and Jose Azocar all added doubles…Carpenter and Manny Machado both had multiple hits, and Juan Soto went 1-for-4 with a walk and 2 RBI.

• After going 0-for-15 in the 1st 2 games with RISP, the Padres went 4-for-11.

• The Padres offense struck out 4x and the Rockies 6x…per Elias, it was the 1st Padre game with 10-or-fewer combined punchouts since September 20, 2022 vs. STL (7 SO).

• Starter Michael Wacha went 6.0 innings in his 1st outing in brown and gold, and he got the 1st win of the season, punching out 2, walking 3, and allowing 4 runs (earned). Musgrove pitches in Arizona

• Joe Musgrove, who is rehabbing from left toe fracture he sustained on February 27th during Spring Training, threw 71 pitches in 5.0 innings yesterday against minor leaguers at the Peoria Sports Complex yesterday…his next start is expected to be Thursday for Triple-A El Paso.
Crone Zone gets extended: Padres sign INF Jake Cronenworth to new 7-year contract extension

• On Saturday afternoon, the Padres signed infielder Jake Cronenworth to a new seven-year contract extension through the 2030 season.

Let’s talk attendance numbers
• The Padres attendance record at Petco Park for a 4-game series is 168,171…in the 1st 3 games this series, the Padres have welcomed 130,943 patrons, needing at least 37,229 attendees today to break the Petco Park 4-game series attendance record…they’ve averaged 43,648 fans in the 1st 3 games so far this season.

• Last year, the Padres’ home total attendance of 2,987,470, just shy of the Padres home attendance record of 3,016,752 (set in Petco Park’s inaugural 2004 season)…the Padres expect to exceed that mark this year, even with 2 of our home games being played in Mexico City against the Giants (March 29-30).

Seth Lugo gets his 1st start as a Padre
• Seth Lugo will pitch in a game for the 1st time since Game 3 of the NL Wild Card series @ Citi Field against the Padres (October 9, 2022).

STARTING PITCHER – SETH LUGO

Vs. the Rockies
He has made 9 appearances (2 starts) the Rockies, going a combined 2-0 with a 3.04 ERA (8 ER, 23.2 IP) and a .218 opponents’ AVG…he faced the Rockies 3 times last season, and earned 2 holds with 0 runs and just 3 hits allowed.

Haven’t seen much of these guys
Not a single current Rockie has a HR vs. Lugo and no Rockie has more than 10 at-bats vs. Lugo, with Randal Grichuk’s 10 leading the way (.400 AVG)…Kris Bryant is 2-for-9 (.222) vs. Lugo with 2 doubles, while Charlie Blackmon is 2-8 (.250) with 1 double and 1 triple.

Starting vs. Relieving
Today will mark Lugo’s first start since the 2020 season, when he made 7 starts out of his 16 total appearances during the pandemic-shortened campaign…it will snap a streak of 108 consecutive relief appearances dating back to June 2, 2021. In his 38 career starts, he has gone 15-10 with a 4.35 ERA and a .272 opponents’ AVG…in his 237 career relief outings, he is 17-14 with 16 SV in 30 SVO, 61 holds and a .212 opp. AVG.

Punchouts in the Big Apple
Finished his Mets’ career with 508 career strikeouts, the 3rd-most by a Mets relief pitcher in franchise history (min. 85% of games with team as a relief pitcher)…he recorded his 500th career strikeout on September 15, 2022 vs. PIT after striking out the side in the seventh.

A look back at 2022
In his 7th and final Major League season with NYM, he posted career highs in appearances (62) and games finished (20), striking out 69 hitters while walking 18…he finished tied for 12th in the NL with 16 holds.

Stingy vs. the lefties
Limited left-handed batters to a .167 (17-102) average last season, the eighth-best mark in the National League and tied the 12th-best mark in the Majors (min. 100 LHB faced)

Filthy with the curve
Per Statcast, last season he relied on 5 pitches: Curveball (34%), 4-Seam Fastball (28.9%), Sinker (21.9%), Slider (13.5%) and Changeup (1.7%)…his curveball ranked in the 99th percentile in spin rate (3,253 rpm), and opponents hit just .159 (11-69) against the pitch

If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em
2022 marked his 1st-career Postseason performance, coming in the 2022 Wild Card Series vs. the Padres…he pitched in all three games played, tossing 2.0 scoreless innings with three strikeouts in NYM’s series loss.