SAN DIEGO (AP) Ezequiel Tovar homered and the Colorado Rockies beat Dylan Cease and the San Diego Padres 6-3 on Tuesday night, extending their win streak to a season-high six games.
Tovar, Ryan McMahon and Elehuris Montero each had two hits as last-place Colorado improved to 4-2 against San Diego this season.
Cal Quantrill (3-3) earned his third consecutive win. The right-hander, who was selected by San Diego in the first round of the 2016 amateur draft, allowed one run and six hits in six-plus innings.
āThereās no hatred toward them. I have some good friends over there," he said. āBut I definitely feel itās important to me to put my best foot forward here. I want to prove that I was exactly what they drafted.ā
Rockies manager Bud Black said Quantrill has added a split-finger changeup to his repertoire.
āHe has a traditional circle change but the split has good action," Black said. āWhen his arm gets to the release point, it looks like a fastball and if he throws it in the right spot, itās really tough to hit.
āI know that he worked on it a lot in spring training and itās now part of his mix. Itās a tough pitch, itās uncomfortable to throw. But heās keeping it down in the zone and heās getting outs.ā
Quantrill is happy to contribute to a team on the rise, especially after the Rockiesā dreadful first month.
āItās been a really nice week for us," he said. āTrust me, we worked hard for this. It was a tough start to the year, so weāre not taking anything for granted and weāre going to try and keep it rolling.ā
Tyler Kinley handled the ninth for his first save.
Cease (5-3) was charged with three runs and five hits in 5 2/3 innings. He struck out eight and walked one.
The ace right-hander went 2-0 with a microscopic 0.66 ERA in his first two May starts.
āThey put together a lot of good at-bats against Dylan," Padres manager Mike Shildt said. "They were on every pitch after a while.ā
San Diego has lost three of four to drop under .500 at 22-23. The Padres are 11-14 against teams with losing records.
McMahon homered in the fourth, and the Rockies grabbed control with four runs in the sixth. Tovar doubled and scored on Brendan Rodgers' single. Jake Cave, Montero and Jordan Beck added three more RBI singles as Colorado opened a 5-0 lead.
āTovar is a real player," Black said. āThereās a reason why our guys upstairs went to him with a long-term contract. They realize heās part of our future and itās really fun to watch him play every day.ā
San Diego scored three runs in the seventh. Luis Campusano and Luis Arraez each hit an RBI single, and Campusano scampered home on a wild pitch.
Campusano, Arraez and Fernando Tatis Jr. each had two hits for the Padres.
TRAINERāS ROOM
Rockies: C Elias Diaz (left hand) exited in the third inning.
Padres: RHP Joe Musgrove (right elbow) threw a light bullpen session on Monday.
UP NEXT
Padres RHP Michael King (3-3, 3.67 ERA) faces Rockies LHP Austin Gomber (0-2, 3.43 ERA) on Wednesday as the teams complete a three-game series in their final meeting until August.
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