Rockies try to extend Padres' struggles with sweep

While Colorado's roster is usually tailored to take friendly Coors Field, the Rockies haven't had to adjust much lately on their trips to spacious Petco Park.

The Rockies look to send the San Diego Padres to a 10th straight setback this afternoon with a sweep of their three-game series.

Colorado has won 13 of its past 17 trips to San Diego and has won six of its past seven overall in this series thanks to victories in the first two contests of this series. After taking Friday's opener by way of a shutout, the Rockies managed just enough offense to take last night's encounter by a 5-4 margin.

Troy Tulowitzki ended up with the deciding RBI on a fifth-inning single, while Dexter Fowler had three hits and scored twice for the Rockies, who had lost five of six prior to this series. Alex White yielded four runs over five innings to pick up his first win since being acquired from the Indians before the non-waiver trade deadline.

"Hopefully there will be many more to come behind it," said White, who was part of the package received from Cleveland for Ubaldo Jimenez.

Will Venable crushed a solo home run and Jesus Guzman ripped a two-run double for the Padres, who have been outscored 40-16 over their longest losing streak of the season. It is also San Diego's worst slide since dropping 10 in a row from Aug. 26-Sept. 5 of last year.

Cory Luebke lasted 4 1/3 innings in defeat, giving up five runs on eight hits while fanning five and walking one.

"I just wasn't consistent," said Luebke. "I couldn't locate my fastball and that's always been the key to my success. I just didn't do it tonight."

Like his team, Rockies starter Aaron Cook has enjoyed his visits to Petco Park. Though just 2-4 with a 7.09 earned run average in seven road outings this year, he holds a career record of 7-1 with a 2.39 ERA in 12 starts at San Diego's home ballpark.

After beginning the season on the disabled list, the 32-year-old made his first two starts of 2011 versus San Diego in early June, going 0-1 while yielding five runs over 11 1/3 innings.

Cook hopes to put a miserable August behind him today after going 1-3 with a 7.02 ERA in six starts last month following seven scoreless innings of a victory over the Dodgers on July 27. He is coming off a loss in Arizona on Tuesday, when he was tagged for six runs on seven hits over 4 1/3 innings to fall to 3-8 with a 5.82 ERA in 15 starts this season.

Mat Latos saw his string of 11 straight starts of allowing three runs or fewer come to an end in his last outing and the Padres right-hander will look to get back on track today.

Latos is 0-2 in four starts since a win at Pittsburgh on Aug. 7. He gave up four runs in six innings of a 4-1 defeat at Los Angeles on Monday, dropping to 6-13 with a 3.82 ERA on the season.

"I made a couple of good pitches when I needed to, but things didn't go my way," Latos said. "I'm mixing my pitches. It's a lack of consistency."

The 23-year-old has split a pair of meetings with the Rockies this year, giving up four runs over 5 1/3 innings of a loss in the most recent encounter on June 15 in Colorado.