An old baseball adage suggests the double play ball is a pitcher's best friend. If that's true it means the twin killing is a hitter's worst enemy.
On Friday night at Coors Field the double play ball was a stinking supervillain with a vendetta against the Padres.
San Diego grounded into four double dips in a 7-3 loss to the Rockies in Denver, a place that has been historically cruel to the club from America's Finest City. Since Colorado got an MLB team the Friars are 38 games under .500 when playing at altitude.
The first double play came in the 1st inning and set the tone for a frustrating night. After loading the bases with nobody out, Manny Machado struck out and Xander Bogaerts hit a ground ball to 3rd base to start an around-the-horn double play.
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Machado, Ha-Seong Kim, and Jurickson Profar followed with double play balls of their own, wiping out multiple scoring opportunities. Meanwhile, the Rockies offense figured out Matt Waldron for a night. The knuckleballing righty never really found his groove in the thin air, allowing home runs the Brendan Rodgers and Charlie Blackmon. Waldron gave up all seven runs in 5.2 innings of work.
The Padres can even the series on Saturday evening with Dylan Cease on the mound against Rockies lefty Kyle Freeland.
