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Rockies visit Padres in matchup of streaking clubs

Sep 22, 2014 - 2:49 PM (SportsNetwork.com) - When two sub-.500 teams with prolonged winning streaks meet in the final week of a lost regular season, something's got to give.

The Colorado Rockies will put their six-game win streak on the line when they visit Petco Park to meet the San Diego Padres -- winners of four in a row -- to begin a three-game series on Monday night.

The Rockies' streak comes on the heels of a seven-game skid which buried them in last place in the National League's West Division. They ended that run with two straight wins over the Los Angeles Dodgers, then won four straight against Arizona to escape last place and come within a game of their longest run of success in more than a year.

Colorado hit .216 during the skid, but has batted .375 on the winning streak.

"It was good to see us not quit. We're still playing the game hard, still playing good baseball," Rockies slugger Michael Cuddyer said. "That's big. That's big for a lot of these guys to see we're not quitting. Going forward, years to come, it's good to see guys trying to play the game."

Cuddyer won the NL batting title last season and could be passing the title to teammate Justin Morneau, who enters the final week tied for the league lead at .318. Morneau is 10-for-21 at Petco Park in 2014.

San Diego's pitchers have posted a 1.63 earned run average during a streak in which the Padres have won six of seven, including a three-game sweep of San Francisco.

"I thought we played really sound baseball," manager Bud Black said. "We pitched really well. We had a leg up there. The key was the starting pitching."

Eric Stults takes the mound for San Diego on Monday while tied for the big- league lead in losses with 17. It's the most losses for a Padres pitcher since Bobby Jones lost 19 in 2001.

He's 0-2 in his last five starts against Colorado and was beaten, 5-2, by Philadelphia on Wednesday after lasting just 4 1/3 innings.

While facing Colorado's scheduled Monday starter, Tyler Matzek, on Sept. 5, Stults allowed three runs in 6 1/3 inning of a 3-0 loss.

Matzek, meanwhile, tossed a three-hit shutout in that game after he'd been bombed for 10 runs in 12 innings in two prior starts against San Diego.

He's won four of his last five decisions with a 1.56 ERA.

On Sunday in Colorado, Rafael Ynoa drove in three runs as the Rockies completed their sweep over the Arizona Diamondbacks with an 8-3 victory.

Brandon Barnes and Ynoa both hit two-run doubles, Wilin Rosario scored three times and Michael Cuddyer homered in his third straight game for Colorado, which swept Arizona for the first time in a four-game series.

Christian Bergman (3-4) allowed two runs on six hits with no walks and three strikeouts over 5 2/3 innings in the win.

In San Diego, Yasmani Grandal knocked in three runs, Ian Kennedy turned in 6 2/3 solid innings and the Padres pinned yet another potentially damaging loss on the San Francisco Giants with an 8-2 decision.

Rene Rivera and Cameron Maybin each had two RBI to help San Diego sweep the three-game weekend set and place the slumping Giants in a tie with Pittsburgh for the National League's top wild card.

The Rockies are 9-7 versus the Padres this season, but have lost five of seven in San Diego.