DENVER — Dinelson Lamet’s slider went still in the mile-high air, which happens to many pitchers who visit here.
The Coors Field effect did not extend to Padres hitters until after they had been dominated yet again by a starting pitcher.
Austin Gomber pitched eight shutout innings for the first time in 29 career starts, and the damage the Padres did against Daniel Bard in the ninth left them just short in a 3-2 loss Monday night.
This was Gomber’s third start against the Padres this season and the third time their bats have been essentially useless against him.
Playing a team that was 16 games under .500 (25-41) in a ballpark that yields an average of 4.9 runs per game to visiting teams this season, the Padres (38-30) hit four fly balls and two line drives against Gomber.
A double off the wall in left field by Tommy Pham and Trent Grisham’s home run over the tall wall in right field got the Padres to within a run with Manny Machado and Fernando Tatis Jr. coming to the plate.
Machado grounded out, and Tatis popped out.
The Padres had hoped a 7-3 victory over the Mets on Sunday, in which they hit three home runs and put together a rare big inning, was the start of an offensive resurgence for the team with the major leagues’ lowest batting average (.202) and fewest runs per game (2.79) over its previous 14 games.
The saying goes that momentum is only as good as the next game’s starting pitcher.
Gomber has been among the best starters in the National League over the past month-plus, posting a 1.28 ERA in seven starts. Three of those starts have been against the Padres.
The problem is, almost every starting pitcher looks like an All-Star against the Padres of late.
Of the 17 starting pitchers to have faced the Padres multiple times this season, seven have ERAs under 2.00 against them, and Gomber is one of four to have a sub-1.00 ERA.
Opposing starters have a 3.24 ERA against the Padres this season. Monday was the 10th time the Padres have been shut out by a starting pitcher this season and the 36th time in 68 games they have scored no more than one run against the starter. (Opposing bullpens have a 5.26 ERA against the Padres.)
“I think we can be better with starting pitching in general,” manager Jayce Tingler said before the game. “We’ve done a fairly good job of getting to some bullpens, but there’s no doubt we would love to get to some starting pitching, get some runs on the board. That helps us, that helps our starting pitchers, it helps get to some of the guys we think are winning combinations late in the game, but we know we can improve on starting pitching and scoring runs early. That’s an area whether it’s lefties or righties, that’s one of our focal points for sure.”
Pham’s infield single in the fourth inning was the Padres’ first hit. He was quickly back in the dugout when Grisham hit into a double play.
They hit their first real fly ball in the third inning — a drive by Jake Cronenworth that was caught just in front of the “415” sign in center field.
The closest they got to scoring off Gomber was when Victor Caratini hit a ball 420 feet to the top of the wall in center field, only to watch it bounce back onto the outfield grass as he was held to a double. A sacrifice bunt attempt that did not work and two groundouts left Caratini stranded at third base.
Monday was also the major league-leading 41st time Padres pitchers allowed three or fewer runs in a game. The other four teams whose staffs have done so at least 35 times all lead their respective divisions.
It was the eighth time in the past 10 games the Padres scored fewer than two runs while their starting pitcher was in the game.
The Rockies took a 1-0 lead in the third inning on a walk and two singles. They didn’t do much damage against Lamet, getting four singles in his four innings, but he had to throw 75 pitches to get that far.
And his wipeout pitch wasn’t.
The slider that got misses on almost 45 percent of the swings batters took through Lamet’s first eight games this season got just five misses on 25 swings Monday.
Ryan Weathers, moved to the bullpen after making five starts over the previous month, replaced Lamet to start the fifth and allowed a home run to C.J. Cron in the seventh inning. Miguel Díaz allowed a run in the eighth.
