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Padres pay a visit to Colorado

Jun 13, 2011 - 2:35 PM (Sports Network) - No team in baseball has more home losses than the San Diego Padres. Perhaps some time on the road will help the club get on track as it opens a nine-game swing with the first of three straight against the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field.

San Diego was shut out, 2-0, by Washington on Sunday to wrap an extended homestand with a 5-6 mark. The Padres have scored just two runs in their three games and struck out at least eight times in six games on their residency.

In getting blanked for the 11th time this season, the Padres wasted a solid outing by Tim Stauffer yesterday. The starter hurled seven scoreless innings, but closer Heath Bell allowed two runs in the ninth.

"When we're going out there and getting the pitching and defense that we are, you feel like you should be getting some of those games. I think that's the most frustrating thing about it," Padres third baseman Chase Headley said about the loss.

San Diego has lost five of its past seven games and is now 14-26 at home this season. By comparison, it is 15-12 on the road, but this trek doesn't figure to be an easy one. After this series, the Padres visit the resurgent Twins and the red-hot Red Sox.

First, they'll take their swings against the Rockies, but they might not be able to go blow-for-blow with the club. Colorado has plated 35 runs over its last five games, winning three straight before back-to-back losses to the Dodgers.

The Rockies scored 15 runs in the setbacks, but gave up 21. They had to settle for a split of the four-game series with the Dodgers due to Sunday's 10-8 setback.

Seth Smith, Carlos Gonzalez, Troy Tulowitzki and Todd Helton all homered for the Rockies, but struggling starter Ubaldo Jimenez was battered for seven runs -- two earned -- on 11 hits and a career-high three homers over 5 1/3 innings.

The big blow came in the third inning, when third baseman Ty Wigginton couldn't come up with bouncer and missed a chance to turn a double play. Los Angeles eventually loaded the bases in the frame before James Loney connected on a grand slam off Jimenez.

Colorado manager Jim Tracy was OK with the solo homers given up by Jimenez -- every pitcher does that, he said. What's hurting the Rockies, Tracy said, are sloppy plays that lead to things like Loney's grand slam.

"Those are damaging," he said.

Colorado will look to rebound tonight behind Aaron Cook, who makes his second start of the season after suffering a variety of injuries since last year. The 32-year-old suffered a fractured right fibula last September, was shut down at the beginning of spring training with a sore shoulder and then broke a finger on his pitching hand back in March.

Making his first start since Sept. 8 last Wednesday, Cook faced these same Padres and did not factor into the decision of a 5-3 win. The right-hander gave up three runs on six hits and four walks over 5 2/3 innings, remaining 14-4 in his career versus San Diego to go along with a 5.08 earned run average.

With Aaron Harang landing on the 15-day disabled list due to a stress reaction to his right foot, 23-year-old Aaron Bass will make his major league debut for the Padres tonight.

Bass, a fifth-round pick in the 2008 draft out of Wayne State, went a combined 7-3 with a 3.41 EA in 12 starts this year with both Double-A San Antonio and Triple-A Tucson. The righty owns 60 strikeouts over 63 2/3 innings.

"He's been throwing well, throwing strikes with good velocity and a good, hard breaking pitch," San Diego manager Bud Black told his team's website.

The Padres and Rockies have split six meetings this season, with San Diego winning two of three at Coors Field from May 13-15.