The San Diego Padres delivered an all-time thrashing at Coors Field, routing the Colorado Rockies 21-0 in a shutout so dominant it landed just shy of MLB history. The 24-hit outburst overwhelmed their NL West division rivals with contributions from nearly every spot in the lineup.
Special credit goes to rookie pitcher Stephen Kolek as the Padres came close to winning the biggest shutout victory in the majors. Kolek pitched a complete game, shutting out the opponents, who had five hits, two walks and seven strikeouts.
According to MLB historian Sarah Langs, the blowout is now tied for third all-time with four other 21-0 games dating back to 1901. Only two games have surpassed it in the modern era: a pair of 22-0 shellackings by the 2004 Cleveland team and the 1975 Pittsburgh Pirates.

With the historic win, the Padres improved to 25-13, reclaiming the NL West lead from the LA Dodgers, who are 26-14.
Padres manager praised Stephen Kolek after the slugfest
Stephen Kolek made just his second major league appearance Saturday night. While his teammates piled runs in the other half of the inning, manager Mike Shildt had little to worry about on the pitching side of the game.
Shildt had a rather light game with everyone doing their job extremely well. However, he had major praise for Kolek, who stayed hot and delivered every inning.
“Doing it here is clearly impressive,” the Padres manager said. “But also doing it with that kind of lead and keeping the gas down. But he was on go the whole game. Hats off to him. He threw the ball exceptionally well.”
Kolek revealed the mantra given by Shildt, which helped him on Saturday.
“Shildty always talks about keeping your edge,” Kolek said. “To me it was just stay on the attack and don’t give anything away.”
Kolek also makes sure to give his team major props.
“It all works together,” Shildt said. “Everything builds on the next thing. And that’s how players put together good seasons, that’s how teams put together great seasons.”
Fernando Tatis Jr, Luis Arraez, Jake Cronenworth, Gavin Sheets, and Jason Heyward all contributed three RBIs each. Apart from Arraez, the others had a home run each, and Xander Bogaerts also had a home run in the win.
The Padres, who have already swept the Colorado Rockies before, will look to do it again on Sunday.