DENVER — Down to their last out, the Padres temporarily staved off the next step toward the end of the plank.
But after Trent Grisham’s two-out, three-run homer in the top of the ninth tied the game, C.J. Cron slammed a one-out, first-pitch slider from Daniel Hudson to the seats in right field to give the Colorado Rockies a 6-5 walk-off victory Monday night at Coors Field.
By the time they leave Colorado, the Padres may no longer be in control of their destiny.
Barring a change in how they pitch at the start of games and how they hit through large portions of games, it might be close to inevitable that by Wednesday (or soon thereafter) the Padres will not be in playoff position for the first time since April 21 — which was after their 20th game of the season.
Their loss, coupled with the Cincinnati Reds’ victory over the Chicago Cubs, trimmed the Padres’ wild-card lead over the Reds to 1½ games.
The Padres have 41 games remaining. Much would seemingly be left to be determined.
But they have two starting pitchers on the injured list and one who is simply hurting.
The Padres decided at the trade deadline Ryan Weathers was good enough to be part of a playoff team’s starting rotation.
Since the day of the trade deadline, the rookie has been the worst starting pitcher in the major leagues.
He allowed five runs on nine hits in four innings Monday and has allowed 25 runs in 15 2/3 innings over his past four starts.
The first of those was July 30, the day of the trade deadline. Among starting pitchers who have made at least three starts since then, Weathers’ 14.36 ERA is by far the highest.
Padres General Manager A.J. Preller has explained that among the reasons the team was not willing to pay the high price in prospects it would have taken to get a starting pitcher at the deadline was a belief in Weathers.
The 21-year-old left-hander had a 2.73 ERA before his start that night.
On Sunday, Preller again expressed confidence in Weathers. Or perhaps it was just hope.
“Ultimately, we’re going to find out a lot about him,” Preller said. “I think for him to step up and pitch his team in the playoffs, there’s a lot of belief in him. His last few outings, he’s gotten beat up. I think the expectation is learn from it, go out and pitch better.”
Weathers again struggled with his command, far too often having his pitches meant for edges of the strike zone catching the heart of the plate.
That included a 2-1 fastball that Rockies leadoff hitter Connor Joe, a Poway High and University of San Diego alumnus, hit 415 feet to right-center field for a home run.
The Padres tied the game in the second inning when Jake Cronenworth doubled, went to third on Austin Nola’s groundout and scored on a wild pitch.
Eric Hosmer also reached first base on that bounced slider, which he swung at for strike three, but the inning ended on Wil Myers’ double play grounder.
That was the first of three inning-ending double plays the Padres grounded into in the first five innings. To that point, they had the same number of hits.
They finished with 10 hits, one more than the Rockies and at least one in all but the second and fourth innings.
Cronenworth and Nola began the ninth inning by reaching on infield singles before Hosmer struck out, Wil Myers flied out to right and Grisham sent a 2-1 slider the other way and just over the wall in left field.
The Padres’ pulled to 5-2 in the sixth inning when Fernando Tatis Jr. hit a one-out double and scored on Manny Machado’s two-out single.
The Rockies took a 5-1 lead in the third inning with four runs on four consecutive hits, one of which was a two-run double by Trevor Story that may have actually been foul and a two-run homer by Charlie Blackmon that was as far from foul as possible — 438 feet to straightaway center field.
