SAN DIEGO _ At a soggy Coors Field, Eric Lauer was welcomed to the major leagues on Tuesday night in a manner as cold as the mile-high air.
After waiting through a 46-minute weather delay prior to the game, the 22-year-old's debut in the near-freezing rain was short.
The Rockies scored seven runs in the first two innings, and Lauer was in the dugout after walking the first batter of the fourth.
The Padres hitters, a night after their best offensive output of the season, weren't any warmer than their rookie pitcher, managing four hits in an 8-0 loss.
One of those hits was by Lauer, a skied single to right field in his only major league at-bat so far.
This came a night after the Padres scored a season-high 13 runs on a season-high 16 hits _ and came without Eric Hosmer, who will also miss Wednesday's game while attending to an undisclosed family matter.
Lauer, whose confidence is a component of his effectiveness, said Monday he had no concern about making his debut at Coors Field since he planned on being around for a long time and would eventually have to pitch here.
After Tuesday, he's probably glad the Padres won't be back in Denver until August and he won't have to pitch here again for a while.
As a few dozen of his family and friends sat in a drizzle that cut through the 36-degree air for much of the night, Lauer allowed six hits and walked four. He struck out three among his 74 pitches, 30 of those offerings made in the first inning.
Even in getting the first batter he faced to ground out to second, Lauer discovered in DJ LeMahieu's eight-pitch at-bat how difficult it can be to put away big-league hitters.
After retiring the 2016 National League batting champion, next up was 2017 batting champion Charlie Blackmon, who hit a single to center field. Nolan Arenado, who was batting .353/.430/.618 entering the game, followed with a walk after Lauer got two quick strikes. A walk to Trevor Story would load the bases, bringing out Padres pitching coach Darren Balsley.
Lauer's second pitch got a groundball to shortstop Freddy Galvis that appeared would allow the young pitcher to escape without allowing a run.
But after getting the force at second, Jose Pirela's throw to first base bounced in front of fill-in first baseman Chase Headley. The ball went off Headley's glove and into the air as two runs scored.
Lauer struck out David Dahl to end the first.
The second inning would see Lauer sail a number of pitches and put a few pretty much in the heart of the strike zone.
He led the NCAA with a 0.69 ERA at Kent State in 2016 and sped to the majors after one full year in the minor leagues by hitting his spots with multiple pitches _ and doing so especially with a fastball that runs in the low 90s is imperative.
In the second, the Rockies batted around and scored five runs, four of them on Trevor Story's two-out grand slam.
Lauer was the 27th pitcher to make his major league debut as a starter at Coors Field, the seventh for a visiting team.
His was not the shortest of the seven outings by the visitors. The longest was five innings. Lauer did allow the most earned runs (six). The previous six visiting pitchers making their debuts at Coors Field left with an average ERA of 7.27. Lauer will make his next start with an 18.00 ERA.
