SAN DIEGO -- Four rookie starts, four Padres wins.
Brett Kennedy became the latest rookie starter to notch a quality outing for the Friars this homestand, shutting out the Rockies for a career-high six innings en route to a 7-0 victory -- and his first Major League win -- at Petco Park Friday night.
Kennedy followed the dominance of fellow rookies Jacob Nix, Joey Lucchesi and Eric Lauer, all who have made their Major League debuts this season. They've strung together four consecutive emphatic starts -- combining to throw 26 innings and allowing just two earned runs for a 0.69 ERA and a 0.89 WHIP. They've also led the Padres to a four-game winning streak, their longest win streak of the season.
For the Padres, it couldn't be a more promising sign of a potential rotation of the future. They spent much of August experimenting with their starters and will continue to do so throughout the rest of the season. This means a lot of young arms will get a chance to compete, and they're leaving a pretty good impression.
"Being part of a winning streak is definitely a good feeling," Kennedy said. "We had a couple wins coming into today and I just wanted to do my part."
Kennedy finished the day allowing just four hits, and only three Colorado baserunners reached past second base. He didn't allow an extra base hit, while walking two, striking out two, and hitting a batter.
"We've been putting together some good starts," he said. "You want to go out there and be a part of that group. That's what we're trying to do is get that starting rotation to be a group and have a routine and be together, piggy back off each other, and I think that's what we're starting to do."
With one month left of the season, there's natural competition to push for a limited number of rotation spots. No one player, including veteran Clayton Richard, is promised a spot in the order next year, and the rookies know now is the time to get an early jump. Some might view the competition as healthy, including Lauer.
"We've kind of picked up how we had it last year where we feed off each other, try to out-do each other a little bit," Lauer said. "It's friendly competition that we have, and we've picked that back up.
"You want to do a little more than the last guy," he added. "Everybody wants to be the main guy. But to do that, you've got to out-do the other guys. If they're doing well, it pushes you to do better. It's a friendly competition. We're not hoping any person does bad. You want them to do well, then you want to do better."
Manager Andy Green believes it's more motivation than anything.
"I'm sure it serves as some sort of extrinsic motivation," he said. "It's like seeing something from the outside and being fired up by it, but they have to channel that themselves."
MITEL REPLAY OF THE DAY
Kennedy may have gotten in trouble early, if it weren't for the help of a heads-up play by Freddy Galvis and replay review. After Charlie Blackmon led off the game with an infield single and reached second on a fielder's choice, Galvis fielded Carlos Gonzalez's ground ball and fired the ball to William Myers at third base, who initially appeared to miss the tag on Blackmon. He was ruled safe at first, but after a Padres challenge, the call was overturned.
MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
The firsts of many: Kennedy's first career win wasn't the only "first" of Friday's matchup. The game also featured a first career home run, first career strikeout, and a Major League debut.
Luis Urias cranked his first career home run -- a two-run line drive that landed about 20 feet left of the home run he thought he hit on Wednesday, but was ruled foul after replay review. There was no doubt about this one though.
Urias' homer sparked a five-run eighth inning for the Padres, who quickly turned a nail-biter into a blowout. Myers followed up Urias with a blast of his own, his first home run since July 22. Eric Hosmer's deep line drive fell about five feet short from a third consecutive home run, but he came around the score when Hunter Renfroe delivered an RBI double. Austin Hedges capped the inning with a run-scoring single before the Padres turned to yet another young arm to make his debut.
After being called-up to replace Kirby Yates, who was placed on the bereavement list, Rowan Wick arrived just before game time and made his debut three hours later. It resulted in an eight-pitch inning in which Wick recorded his first Major League strikeout -- fanning Ryan McMahon on three pitches.
The significance of the day might not have hit Wick fully. It had been a whirlwind day for the 25-year-old, who started the day at 4 a.m. in Fresno.
"I'm kind of tired," Wick said with a smile. "It still hasn't settled in for me."
Franmil on fire: Franmil Reyes crushed his second solo home run in as many days, and his fourth homer in the last six days. He tagged Rockies' starter Antonio Senzatela in the fourth inning to break open the scoring, scorching a 425-foot rope into the Padres' bullpen. The ball left his bat at a Statcast™ estimated 114 miles per hour.
"That bat's real," Green said. "You just don't see balls come off the bat the way they do off his bat."
SOUND SMART
With Robert Stock's first career win on Thursday, and Kennedy's on Friday, the two became the first Padres rookies to notch their first Major League wins in back-to-back games since Clay Condrey and Doug Nickle, who captured the feat on nearly the exact same days, 16 years ago. Condrey and Nickle recorded their first wins on Aug. 31 and Sept. 1, 2002.
UP NEXT
Robbie Erlin (3-4, 3.69 ERA) takes the mound, hoping to continue the success the rookies have demonstrated. Erlin has shown much better potential in his second stint in the rotation this season. In his five starts since returning, he's posted a 2-1 record, accompanied with a 4.21 ERA. He'll try to bounce back from his last start against the Dodgers, who tagged him for four earned runs and eight hits in 4 2/3 innings. It won't come easy though -- he'll face off against Jon Gray (10-7, 4.76), who's pitched at least six innings in seven of his last eight starts. Game time is slated for 5:40 p.m. PT.