SAN DIEGO _ Four times this week, a collection of rookies powered wins.
They flirted with complete games. They strung together quality starts. They launched walk-off homers, orchestrated go-ahead hits and shut down late uprisings off the mound.
What goes up, often comes down.
Jacob Nix wavered in the seventh inning of his fifth big league start Sunday afternoon, rookie reliever Trey Wingenter could not pick up the slack and the Padres' bats ran out of answers in a 7-3 loss to the Rockies at Petco Park.
Five days after coming within two outs of a shutout, Nix climbed the mound in the seventh inning still clutching a third quality start.
He lost his grip quickly.
Nix surrendered a leadoff single (just his fifth hit allowed), walked his second batter and watched from the dugout as Wingenter allowed both of Nix's runners and one of his own to cross the plate via Chris Iannetta's two-run double and Charlie Blackmon's one-out single.
Rookie Miguel Diaz allowed an eighth-inning homer to David Dahl.
Nix finished with five runs allowed in six-plus innings. He tied a season-high with four strikeouts and walked his first batters since a second-inning walk to Ian Desmond on Aug. 22 at Coors Field.
The first one, a sixth-inning walk to D.J. LeMahieu, scored on Trevor Story's game-tying double. The second crossed the plate in the Rockies' three-run sixth inning.
The Padres had answers for the Rockies' first two run-scoring hits.
A half-inning after Blackmon led off the game with a double and scored on Nolan Arenado's sacrifice fly, rookie Franmil Reyes extended his hitting streak to eight games with a two-run single.
In the fourth inning, after Story's double tied the game at 2, A.J. Ellis' second single of the game scored Manuel Margot from second base.
