DENVER (AP) - Pitcher Clayton Richard homered into the second deck at Coors Field and the San Diego Padres weathered Carlos Gonzalez's disputed home run to beat the Colorado Rockies 7-6 on Monday night.
Richard connected for his third career homer as part of a five-run fourth inning, driving the first pitch he saw from Jon Gray (1-2) above the Rockies bullpen in right-center. Carlos Asuaje followed Richard with a home run, the second time this season the Padres have gone deep in successive at-bats.
Richard (1-1) allowed four runs in five innings. Brad Hand struck out the side in the ninth for his third save.
It's mandatory that we use #PitchersWhoRake here.
But this mammoth dinger by @CRThrees shows a pitcher who can KA-RUSH 💣 pic.twitter.com/I4xw9NBmx2
— San Diego Padres (@Padres) April 10, 2018
Ian Desmond, Chris Iannetta and Gonzalez homered for the Rockies. Gonzalez's two-run drive came in the sixth off Jordan Lyles, pulled the Rockies within 7-6 and led to the ejection of Padres manager Andy Green.
Left fielder Cory Spangenberg made a leaping attempt at the wall and actually had the ball in his glove for an instant, even as a fan tried simultaneously to make a barehanded catch. The fan appeared to make some contact with the glove but backed his hands away as Spangenberg dropped back to the ground.
Spangenberg's dangling glove hit the top of the wall and the ball bounced out, dropping into the stands. The homer was upheld on replay review, and Green was ejected after vehemently arguing over what he saw as fan interference.
Gray opened impressively, striking out the side in the first, but then quickly got into trouble. He gave up four singles around a double play, including Manuel Margot's RBI hit in the second, and was tagged for five runs in the fourth.
Gray allowed seven runs and 10 hits in five innings.
