DENVER _ The Padres did not want to appear petty.
"It's pretty selfish, honestly, with everything going on, to think about how it affects our travel and our fatigue and our pitching rotation," manager Jayce Tingler said.
But social upheaval and baseball's stand against injustice doesn't mean all those things weren't real.
The Padres got to their downtown hotel here shortly after midnight Friday. While that was five hours earlier than their trip here a month ago, they nonetheless arrived in Colorado dragging a little bit and were faced with the dreaded task of beginning a four-game series a mile high.
It looked early in Friday night's game against the Rockies as if fatigue, plus the house of horrors that is Coors Field, along with some rain and misfortune, would all conspire against them.
But with runs in all three of the middle innings, a season-high 19 hits and an impressive show of resilience by starting pitcher Zach Davies, the Padres beat the Rockies, 10-4.
Davies, who allowed a 468-foot homer and four unearned runs in a 27-pitch first inning, made it through 5 2/3 innings on 93 pitches before Matt Strahm, Cal Quantrill, Tim Hill and Emilio Pagan went about finishing the Padres' ninth victory in 11 games.
Ty France drove in four runs. Eric Hosmer and Wil Myers had four hits each; Manny Machado and France three. It was the first time since 2016 that four different Padres had at least three hits in a nine-inning game.
Fernando Tatis Jr. scored the go-ahead run in the sixth on a short sacrifice fly by Machado, who earlier extended his hitting streak to 11 games. France cleared loaded bases with a double later in the inning.
A doubleheader against Seattle on Thursday, necessitated when the Mariners refused to play Wednesday as a protest in the wake of the police shooting of a Black man in Wisconsin, pushed back the Padres' flight to Denver. It also continued to stress their pitching staff and depleted precious energy in this frenetically paced season.
Not an excuse. But not ideal.
This is no insignificant series, either.
The Padres (20-14) entered the game in second place in the National League West, two games ahead of the Rockies (16-16). What happens here is important enough that Tingler acknowledged it was so.
"They've won three in a row, and they're playing good ball," Tingler said of the Rockies. "We're coming off the doubleheader. So we know this is going to be a grind. It's always a grind coming to this ballpark and playing. They've got a good team, so we've got a lot of challenges. We certainly do view this as a big series."
A steady afternoon drizzle canceled on-field work before the game, but the rain stopped and the game began on time.
As Davies struggled to find the plate in the first inning, a harder rain resumed.
For his uncharacteristic lack of command early, Davies appeared to have gotten out of a jam with runners at the corners when Charlie Blackmon hit a grounder to second baseman Jake Cronenworth. But Tatis' throw to complete the would-be double play went through the webbing in Hosmer's glove at first base. Blackmon was safe, and Trevor Story scored from third base.
Daniel Murphy walked, and up came Matt Kemp, who homered against the Padres here on Aug. 1 and 2 but had gone 54 at-bats since without a home run.
A fastball from Davies in the heart of the strike zone was too meaty and Kemp smacked it 468 feet to center field, putting the Rockies up 4-0.
The grounds crew had to add dirt and manicure the mound before the top of the second.
Rockies starter Kyle Freeland was not challenged by the weather, which improved after the second inning, but he began to be troubled by the Padres in the fourth inning.
Myers led off that inning with a double and, after France leaned into a pitch to get awarded first base, went home on Jorge Mateo's one-out single. Austin Hedges followed with a single that loaded the bases. But Trent Grisham struck out and Tatis skied a pop fly to second baseman Ryan McMahon to strand the three runners.
The Padres got around to tying the game in the fifth.
Machado led off with his second single of the night and scored on Hosmer's double. Hosmer scored on Myers' second double of the game before Cronenworth made the first out of the inning on a grounder to third that appeared to be foul.
France's flared single into right field tied the game and ended the night for Freeland, who did not go six innings for the first time in seven starts this season and surrendered a career high-tying 11 hits.
Jeff Hoffman retired Mateo and Hedges to end the inning.
In the sixth, Tatis hit a one-out double off the wall in right-center field, went to third on a wild pitch and scored on Machado's fly ball to center field. Hosmer and Myers followed with singles, and Cronenworth walked to load the bases. France followed with a double down the left-field line.
