SAN DIEGO (AP) — Jackson Merrill hit a three-run home run and the San Diego Padres withstood a career-high, five-RBIs performance by Mickey Moniak to beat the lowly Colorado Rockies 9-6 on Sunday and take three of four.
San Diego came in trailing the first-place Los Angeles Dodgers by 2 1/2 games in the NL West. The Padres hold the second of three National League wild cards. The Rockies have the worst record in the majors at 41-109.
Moniak went 4 for 4 with two homers and an RBI single, and stole two bases. He starred at La Costa Canyon High in Carlsbad before being taken by Philadelphia with the No. 1 pick overall in the 2016 amateur draft.
With the Rockies trailing 7-0, Moniak hit a leadoff shot off Yu Darvish (4-5) in the fourth. After Darvish put two runners on opening the sixth, reliever Jeremiah Estrada came on and Moniak greeted him with a three-run shot, his 21st.
Ezequiel Tovar hit an RBI double with two outs in the seventh and Moniak singled him in to pull the Rockies to 7-6.
San Diego's Gavin Sheets hit a two-run double in the eighth.
Merrill's opposite-field shot to left off Germán Márquez (3-14) gave the Padres a 6-0 lead with no outs in the second.
San Diego took a 3-0 lead in the first on four singles and a walk, including Jake Cronenworth's bases-loaded RBI bunt single and Jose Iglesias's two-run base hit.
Rockies interim manager Warren Schaeffer was ejected by plate umpire James Jean after Kyle Farmer took a called third strike for the third out.
