On the latest picturesque afternoon at Petco Park, the brilliant open to Cesar Vargas' major league career coincided with a collective inability to close.
The latter won out Wednesday. Because of that and because of Tyler Chatwood's continued dominance away from Colorado, the Padres lost, 2-0.
San Diego whiffed at a sweep opportunity and fell to 11-17, including 0-for-9 in series finales. Chatwood blanked the Padres over eight innings, sending them to their eighth shutout defeat while running his scoreless-innings streak on the road to 23 2/3 innings.
With the Rockies right-hander cutting through their lineup with ease, the Padres didn't advance a baserunner past first until Brett Wallace's two-out double in the seventh.