DENVER — The Padres waited long enough Saturday night to make another Coors Field crash feel almost likely.
A pitcher they had punished here and in San Diego came within an out of a quality start.
The Padres scored three runs against the Rockies’ Chad Kuhl and held a slim lead, but they squandered enough opportunities to activate memories of a litany of losses here.
As the Padres languished at the plate, the scoreboard on the right field wall reflected the Brewers’ growing lead in Cincinnati. By the fifth inning, the “F” signifying the Brewers’ victory over the Reds was final went up.
At that point, the possibility existed that the Brewers’ four-game winning streak would by the end of the night have them within one game of the Padres for the first time since Aug. 18.
Then the Padres had their best inning of the season at the place where they generally play the worst, scoring six runs in the seventh to open a seven-run advantage that led to a 9-3 victory.
The win was the Padres’ second in nine games this season at Coors Field and, most crucially, moved them a half-game ahead of the Phillies and maintained their two-game lead on the Brewers. The three teams are vying for two available National League playoff spots.
The Padres’ magic number dropped to eight, meaning any combination of Padres’ victories or Brewers losses equaling eight would clinch a Padres playoff berth. Both teams have 10 games remaining. The Phillies have 11.
The top of the Padres’ batting order and Yu Darvish got the bulk of the credit Saturday.
Six of the first seven Padres runs were scored by the first four batters in their lineup. Cleanup hitter Jake Cronenworth drove in three runs, and No. 3 hitter Manny Machado drove in two.
Darvish (16-7) allowed two runs in six innings, the 22nd straight start in which he lasted at least that long, as he won his sixth straight start.
The right-hander had not allowed a run in 16 innings before Ryan McMahon led off the bottom of the first by golfing a 1-2 split-finger fastball below the zone over the tall wall in right field.
The Padres went up 2-1 in the third on a leadoff double by No. 9 hitter Austin Nola and a double by Machado and single by Cronenworth with two outs.
Darvish got a two-run lead to work with in the fifth when leadoff hitter Jurickson Profar grounded a single through the right side, went to third on a double by No. 2 hitter Juan Soto and scored on Machado’s groundout to shortstop.
A leadoff double by Sean Bouchard and single by Brian Serven had Darvish working with Rockies at the corners and no outs in the fifth. He struck out McMahon, gave up a sacrifice fly to Yonathan Daza and was aided by Trent Grisham’s diving grab inches off the ground on a sinking liner by Randall Grichuk to end the inning.
The Padres scored all of their runs in the seventh against reliever Justin Lawrence with one out, as Profar’s double began a run of six consecutive batters reaching base. Walks to Soto and Machado loaded the bases for Cronenworth, who lined a single to center field to make it 5-2. A single by Brandon Drury loaded the bases again, and Josh Bell walked to make it 6-2 before a Ha-Seong Kim chopper went under the glove of shortstop Ezequiel Tovar to become a two-run single. Grisham followed by beating out a would-be double play relay to first, which allowed Bell to score. With Nola up for a second time in the inning, Grisham was thrown out trying to steal second.
Randall Grichuk’s homer off Tim Hill in the eighth got the Rockies to 9-3.
The Padres had to face a couple more of the Rockies’ regulars Saturday, as McMahon and Charlie Blackmon were back in the lineup. But they also got to face Kuhl.
The last time they faced Kuhl, they scored nine runs. In three starts against the Padres this season, he had allowed 17 runs in 14 innings. They had walked 12 times and were batting .377 against him this season.
Machado was 6 for 8 with two homers against Kuhl this season. Cronenworth had homered in two of the three games against him. Drury hit a grand slam on the first pitch he saw wearing a Padres uniform in the Aug. 3 game.
On Sunday, the teams meet for the final time this season. It will be the Padres’ final road game, as they finish the regular season with nine games at Petco Park.
