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.
“There’s no hatred toward them. I have some good friends over there," he said. “But I definitely feel it’s important to me to put my best foot forward here. I want to prove that I was exactly what they drafted.”
Rockies manager Bud Black said Quantrill has added a split-finger changeup to his repertoire.
“He has a traditional circle change but the split has good action," Black said. “When his arm gets to the release point, it looks like a fastball and if he throws it in the right spot, it’s really tough to hit.
“I know that he worked on it a lot in spring training and it’s now part of his mix. It’s a tough pitch, it’s uncomfortable to throw. But he’s keeping it down in the zone and he’s getting outs.”
Quantrill is happy to contribute to a team on the rise, especially after the Rockies’ dreadful first month.
“It’s been a really nice week for us," he said. “Trust me, we worked hard for this. It was a tough start to the year, so we’re not taking anything for granted and we’re going to try and keep it rolling.”
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.
“They put together a lot of good at-bats against Dylan," Padres manager Mike Shildt said. "They were on every pitch after a while.”
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.
“Tovar is a real player," Black said. “There’s a reason why our guys upstairs went to him with a long-term contract. They realize he’s part of our future and it’s really fun to watch him play every day.”
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.
