DENVER (Interstat) — Ethan Salas homered twice and drove in three runs, Robbie Ray pitched six innings and the San Diego Padres defeated the Colorado Rockies 9-3 on Wednesday at Coors Field.

The Padres improved to 83-69. Colorado fell to 56-96. San Diego finished with 13 hits, while Colorado had four. The game took 2 hours, 43 minutes and drew an announced attendance of 16,806.

San Diego opened the scoring in the first. Fernando Tatis Jr. was hit by a pitch and Dustin Harris walked. Manny Machado reached on a force out that moved Tatis to third and retired Harris at second. Ty France followed with a sacrifice fly to center field that scored Tatis. Jackson Merrill singled, Xander Bogaerts walked and Jake Cronenworth singled to shortstop to score Machado. Samad Taylor lined out to second to end the inning with San Diego ahead 2-0.

Colorado answered in the bottom of the first. Jake McCarthy walked and Connor Norby was hit by a pitch. Cole Carrigg flied out to center, moving McCarthy to third and Norby to second. Kyle Karros walked to load the bases. Adael Amador grounded into a force out that scored McCarthy and retired Norby at third. A pitch-result challenge was overturned, and Troy Johnston was called out on strikes to end the inning with San Diego ahead 2-1.

Salas gave the Padres another run in the second with a leadoff homer to center field. Tatis flied out to right, Harris lined out to center, Machado singled to right and France popped out to shortstop. Colorado managed a two-out single by Ezequiel Tovar in the bottom half, but Ray struck out McCarthy swinging to strand him.

San Diego added to its lead in the fourth. Taylor singled to right, but Salas flied out to left and Tatis grounded out to third. Harris then tripled to center field, scoring Taylor. Machado flied out to right. Ray worked a clean bottom of the fourth, striking out Amador and Johnston and getting Jordan Beck to line out to third.

The decisive inning came in the fifth. France flied out to left, Merrill singled to right and Bogaerts walked. Cronenworth grounded out to third, moving Merrill to third and Bogaerts to second. Taylor followed with a two-run single to center that scored Merrill and Bogaerts. Salas then homered to right field, bringing home Taylor and pushing the San Diego lead to 8-1. Ray retired the Rockies in order in the bottom half.

San Diego scored once more in the sixth. Harris singled to right, Machado struck out swinging and France doubled to right to score Harris. Merrill struck out and Bogaerts grounded out to end the inning. Colorado got two runs back in the bottom of the sixth when Norby doubled to center and Karros homered to center field. Amador grounded out and Johnston popped out, leaving the score 9-3.

In the seventh, Cronenworth singled to right, but Taylor flied out to center, Salas flied out to left and Tatis grounded out to shortstop. Colorado got a two-out single from Beck in the bottom half, but Braxton Fulford and Tovar struck out swinging around a McCarthy lineout to third.

Jimmy Herget pitched a scoreless eighth for Colorado. Harris grounded out to first, Machado grounded out to second and France grounded out to third. David Morgan retired the Rockies in order in the bottom of the eighth, getting Norby and Carrigg on flyouts before Karros grounded out to first.

In the ninth, Juan Mejia struck out Merrill, Sung-Mun Song and Cronenworth swinging. Yuki Matsui closed it out for San Diego in the bottom half. Amador struck out on a foul tip, Johnston grounded out to first and Beck walked. Fulford also walked before Tovar grounded out to third to end the game.

Ray finished with six innings, three hits, three earned runs and six strikeouts. He improved to 13-8. Morgan followed with two scoreless innings, allowing one hit and striking out two. Matsui pitched a scoreless ninth, allowing no hits, striking out one and walking two. San Diego pitchers combined for 13 strikes, 40 balls and 13 balls in play. Colorado pitchers combined for 12 strikes, 48 balls and 12 balls in play.

Colorado starter Mason Adams took the loss and fell to 0-1. Herget pitched two innings of relief, allowing one hit and no earned runs. Mejia struck out all three batters he faced in the ninth. Karros went 1 for 3 with a home run and two RBIs for the Rockies. Norby doubled and scored, while Tovar had one of Colorado’s four hits.

For San Diego, Salas went 2 for 4 with two home runs and three RBIs. Harris went 2 for 4 with a triple and one RBI. Taylor went 2 for 4 with two RBIs. France went 1 for 4 with a double and two RBIs. Merrill had two hits and scored twice, while Cronenworth drove in a run and scored once. Machado also singled and scored.

The Padres bounced back after a loss to Colorado on Tuesday and a win over the Rockies on Monday. San Diego had also won three of four against San Francisco before arriving at Coors Field. Colorado had lost six of its previous seven games before Tuesday’s victory over San Diego.

The series continues Thursday at Coors Field. San Diego will then return home for a weekend series against Miami, while Colorado will remain at home to face Seattle.

Interstat’s game simulator had projected a final score of San Diego 8, Colorado 3. Interstat’s ELO system had projected San Diego with a 67.9 percent probability to win. San Diego had been installed as a pregame favorite with a spread of minus 1.5. The combined 12 runs went under the over/under line of 11.