SAN DIEGO _ The San Diego Padres' plans to close the season in a six-man rotation hinges on Andy Green having six healthy, dependable arms at his disposal. Of his choices, Clayton Richard is proving as healthy and dependable as anyone.
Continuing his resurgence in San Diego, the 32-year-old left-hander threw seven more scoreless innings at the Colorado Rockies in a 14-1 win devoid of all drama after seven unearned runs crossed the plate in the third, three of them scoring on Ryan Schimpf's 18th homer of the season.
Schimpf also doubled in a run to finish with four RBIs, Derek Norris hit his first homer since July 10 and the Padres banged out 12 hits to support Richard, who struck out seven, scattered six hits and two walks and threw 72 of his 114 pitches for strikes.
The gem came a day after hamstring and groin strains forced Jarred Cosart off the mound after just 3 1/3 innings, the latest in a series of rotation setbacks that began with Tyson Ross hitting the disabled list after his Opening Day assignment.
To this day, Ross' return remains uncertain.
Meantime, Cosart was optimistic he'd pitch again this season despite gingerly moving around the clubhouse before Thursday's game.
"It's kind of in between the groin and the hamstring _ we're calling it the 'gramstring,' " Cosart said with a laugh. "It's just tender on that spot, but it feels better than yesterday. I'll have two or three rounds of treatment (Thursday). I think (Friday) will be more of a day where I can really give an honest opinion as far as how soon I can get on a mound."
He added: "I'm going to pitch again this year. I'm going to make sure of that."
An off-day next Thursday will allow the Padres to use only two of their starters _ Richard and Luis Perdomo _ on four days rest through the next turn. If Cosart's injuries don't improve by then, they'll begin to explore secondary options that range from adding another pitcher from the minors to using long man Carlos Villanueva for a start or two.
Coincidently, that's how Richard began his return to the Padres _ as a long man.
Given his results, he'd deserve to remain in the rotation even if the Padres weren't intent on monitoring the workloads of Perdomo and Christian Friedrich down the stretch.
Seven scoreless innings Thursday lowered Richard's ERA in the Padres' rotation to 0.90 and gave him his first win at Petco Park since beating the Arizona Diamondbacks on June 16, 2013, with eight innings of one-run ball.
Nick Hundley caught that game and his next, a two-pitch outing that ended with Richard walking off the field with a season-ending shoulder injury. His longtime batterymate, Hundley, had one of the six hits that Richard allowed Thursday night against the Rockies.
It helped seeing his offense turn Cristhian Adames' two-out, third-inning gaffe into seven unearned runs, tied for a franchise record.
The first run scored when the Rockies' shortstop couldn't handle a two-out, 100 mph ball off the bat of Jon Jay.
Wil Myers followed with a single, Yangervis Solarte and Alex Dickerson both plated a run with base hits and Schimpf drove in three on his 18th homer of the season.
Luis Sardinas' ensuing single opened up a 7-0 lead and chased Rockies rookie Jeff Hoffman from the game with an odd line: 2 2/3 innings, seven runs _ 0 earned _ on six hits and two walks.
Travis Jankowski singled in two more runs in a three-run fifth, Schimpf doubled in another in a two-run sixth and Norris' 13th homer of the season scored two runs in the eight.
Norris exited a half-inning later when a foul tip struck him.
The Rockies' lone run came on Adames' ninth-inning homer off Brandon Morrow.
