SAN DIEGO _ The good news is that the San Diego Padres' Clayton Richard gets another shot at the Colorado Rockies soon.
Actually, if the rotation order holds, Richard will face the Rockies twice more in the next three weeks.
Alas, that could turn out to be the bad news.
Petco Park is where Richard had actually pitched to some success against the Rockies.
That changed Wednesday night, when the left-hander seemingly couldn't locate a pitch for the first two innings, allowing five runs on seven hits before settling in and surviving through the fifth.
It was the fifth time in six games the Padres' opponent scored first. The Padres have lost all five of those, this one 5-2.
The Padres' only real offensive stirring came in the eighth inning, when they pieced together two runs on singles by Carlos Asuaje and Hunter Renfroe, a Jose Pirela walk and a couple groundouts.
After his impeccable 83-pitch outing on opening day, when Richard allowed a run in seven innings, he threw 99 pitches Wednesday.
The next two times he faces the Rockies will be at Coors Field, where Richard has an 8.82 ERA in nine starts _ quite a bit higher than the 2.08 ERA he had in 10 games against the Rockies at home entering Wednesday.
The Padres could alter their rotation in some way but have no plans to as of yet.
Certainly, the Rockies will have similar challenges and advantages as the teams face each other seven more times by April 25.
But it is the Padres who are now 1-5 this season, and it is Richard against whom the Rockies triumvirate of Nolan Arenado, Charlie Blackmon and DJ LeMahieu has a combined .460 career batting average after going 5-for-7 and scoring all five runs Wednesday.
Wednesday was the third of 10 games between the two teams this month. They will play a two-game series in May and then not again until late August.
"Why MLB chooses to do something like this," Padres manager Andy Green said, "it doesn't make a ton of sense."
Three sets of opponents will play each other that often prior to the end of the season's first full month, something that had only happened once before to this year.
The San Francisco Giants and Los Angeles Dodgers and Tampa Bay Rays and Boston Red Sox will also play each other 10 times before April is over.
None will do it in the rapid succession that the Padres and Rockies will.
"I can't remember three times," Richard said earlier this week of facing the same opponent that often in three weeks. "It's really strange. But we'll be OK."
