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Rockies-Padres Preview

Sep 12, 2009 - 6:57 AM By SANTOSH VENKATARAMAN STATS Senior Writer

Colorado (82-60) at San Diego (63-79), 10:05 p.m. EDT

The streaking Colorado Rockies continue to look like a team headed to the postseason.

The Rockies will try to stretch their winning streak to nine when they continue a three-game road set Saturday night against the San Diego Padres.

Colorado (82-60) won for the third time in its final at-bat during this win streak Friday by rallying for a 4-1 victory. Yorvit Torrealba hit a three-run double with two outs in the ninth inning off closer Heath Bell and pinch-hitter Paul Phillips added an RBI single.

"We've had some dramatic games since the end of May, but that one there goes to the top of the list," Rockies manager Jim Tracy said.

Bell suffered his fourth blown save for San Diego.

Torrealba is 13 for 18 (.722) with runners in scoring position since May 29.

"After being down 1-0 almost all game, to be able to come through off the bench, it was huge," Torrealba said. "We're trying to get to the playoffs, so it's pretty exciting."

The Rockies are on their longest win streak since an 11-game run June 4-14 that matched the longest in franchise history. They remained two games behind first-place Los Angeles in the NL West race and increased their lead on San Francisco to 5 1/2 games for the wild card.

Brad Hawpe had two hits and scored a run to continue his success against the Padres (63-79) this year. Hawpe is 18 for 34 (.529) with eight multihit efforts and seven RBIs in nine games against them.

San Diego lost for only the fifth time in 16 games. David Eckstein doubled and scored in the first inning while Adrian Gonzalez went 0 for 3 after homering in three of his previous four games.

The Padres have been getting some timely hitting from promising youngster Chase Headley. The Colorado native is hitting .328 over his last 16 games, and had his third straight multihit effort Friday with two hits.

Tracy, meanwhile, may insert Seth Smith back in the lineup after the outfielder did not start Friday. Smith batted .447 (17 for 38) with four homers and 14 RBIs in his previous 10 games.

The Rockies have pushed back Ubaldo Jimenez to start Tuesday against San Francisco. The right-hander is hampered by a hamstring he tweaked while running the bases Monday in a 4-3 win over Cincinnati.

Colorado will give Esmil Rogers his major league debut in place of Jimenez. The 24-year-old right-hander began the year at Double-A Tulsa, going 8-2 with a 2.48 ERA in 15 starts before he went 3-5 with a 7.42 ERA in 12 games at Triple-A Colorado Springs.

Tim Stauffer (4-6, 3.49 ERA) will try to win his fourth straight start for San Diego. Stauffer improved to 3-0 with a 2.45 ERA in his last three outings after giving up three runs over 6 2-3 innings Sunday in a 4-3 road victory over the Dodgers.

The right-hander has faced the Rockies once in his career, allowing two runs over seven innings July 8, 2005, to earn a 12-2 victory.