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Padres, Rockies square off at Coors Field

May 13, 2011 - 2:58 PM (Sports Network) - The San Diego Padres try to string back-to-back wins together this evening when they open a three-game series against the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field.

San Diego's offense exploded on Wednesday, as it avoided a sweep in its three- game set with the Milwaukee Brewers by scoring eight times in the eighth inning on its way to a 13-6 rout at Miller Park. The Padres, who were blanked seven times in April, also banged out 23 hits in the win and have now crossed the plate 50 times in May.

"It was fun," said Padres center fielder Cameron Maybin, who tied a career high with four hits. "You know, the effort has been there, the passion to compete has been there. It's nice to have one like this. It's a good feeling."

Hoping that offensive onslaught continues tonight will be right-hander Dustin Moseley, who has been victimized by poor run support this season in posting a 1-4 mark to go along with a 2.67 ERA. San Diego's offense wasn't the problem in Moseley's last time out, though, as he allowed a season-high five earned runs and seven hits in five innings to get the loss.

Despite the poor outing on Saturday, Moseley has held opponents to two earned runs or less in five of his seven starts, but the Padres have managed no more than one run in five of those outings.

Moseley has faced the Rockies four times and is 1-2 with a 0.68 ERA against them.

Colorado, meanwhile, will counter with lefty Jorge De La Rosa, who is 4-1 with a 3.14 ERA. De La Rosa suffered his first loss of the season on Sunday in San Francisco, as the Giants reached him for three runs and four hits in six innings. De La Rosa also walked five batters in the setback.

"He's always been a very confident guy in my opinion, but the difference you see in Jorge De La Rosa is his ability to handle adversity a lot better than he has in the past," Rockies manager Jim Tracy said.

De La Rosa is 3-2 lifetime against the Padres with a 5.31 ERA in 14 games (10 starts).

Colorado comes into tonight's tilt on a sour note after it served up three home runs to Carlos Beltran on Thursday and fell 9-5 to drop the rubber match of a three-game series with the New York Mets.

Seth Smith drove in two runs for the Rockies, who have dropped six of seven. Ubaldo Jimenez (0-3) remained winless in six starts as he gave up five runs on three hits with six walks over just 3 2/3 innings.

"I had to find a way to get loose. It's really hard when it's cold and it's raining," said Jimenez.

Colorado won 12 of its 18 matchups with the Padres last season.