Randy Vásquez, Padres handle Rockies in series opener

The season had gotten a little green for the Padres. As in, the color of one’s countenance when feeling ill.

Purple is the color the Padres needed to see at a time like this.

That is the color worn by one major league team. The worst one.

That is who came to Petco Park on Thursday.

And that is who the Padres got right against in the opener of a four-game series, as Randy Vásquez and three relievers held the Rockies scoreless and the Padres offense did enough to score a 2-0 victory.

This is the same Rockies team the Padres shut out for an entire three-game series in April.

That was the Padres’ first time keeping a team from scoring in a series of at least three games, the first time the Rockies had been held scoreless in a three-game series and the first time since 2017 an MLB team had accomplished a three-game series shutout.

The Rockies’ season got rockier from there, as they won nine of their first 58 games. At 40-107, they could still finish with one of the five worst records in MLB history.

The Padres (80-67) are almost certain to make the postseason despite entering Thursday’s game having lost 11 of their previous 16 games. (The only team with fewer wins in that span, which dates to Aug. 24, was the 3-13 Rockies.)

With 15 games remaining, the Padres sit in the fifth of six National League playoff positions. They are 2½ games behind the Dodgers in the NL West, four games behind the Cubs in the race for the fourth seed and four games in front of the Mets. The Reds and Giants  are 1½ games behind the Mets, who hold the final playoff spot and were the only one of those teams besides the Padres to play Thursday.

Besides improving their standing, it is difficult to discern what Thursday’s game said about the Padres and how they might perform going forward.

All it really was for certain was a much-needed victory after two consecutive losses.

“Just get back on track and look forward to tomorrow,” said Jackson Merrill, whose solo home run gave the Padres a 2-0 lead in the fifth inning.

That was one of six hits the Padres had, with five of them coming between the third and fifth innings. Three of the hits were off the bat of Luis Arraez, who broke a 0-0 tie with a two-out single in the fourth.

The Padres entered the game having gotten 15 hits and scored a total of seven runs in their previous three games, a series loss against the Reds.

On Thursday, they were facing a rookie named McCade Brown, against whom they had gotten five hits and scored six runs in 1⅔ innings on Saturday at Coors Field.

Brown was making fourth career start and had not gone more than four innings nor allowed fewer than three runs in any of his first three.

He accomplished both Thursday.

The Padres’ first hit was Freddy Fermin’s one-out single in the third inning. Fermin went to second on a wild pitch and scored on Arraez’s single into right field.

Arraez’s second hit, with one out in the fifth, ended Brown’s night.

Jaden Hill proceeded to strike out Manny Machado and Gavin Sheets and also got through the sixth inning without allowing a baserunner. Jimmy Herget followed with a 1-2-3 seventh. Arraez’s third single of the night, off Victor Vodnik in the eighth inning, was the Padres’ only hit after the fifth.

On this night against this opponent, that was enough.

Because Vásquez was again sharp against the Rockies.

In his first major-league start in nearly a month, he held the Rockies to three runs (two earned) in six innings on Saturday. That was his second quality start of the season at Coors Field.

He was even better at sea level, as he struck out nine batters in six innings Thursday. That was three more than he had ever struck out in any of his previous 48 career starts.

Vásquez pitched around an error by Manny Machado and a single with two outs in the first inning, navigated a lead-off double in the second and allowed just two singles the rest of the way in his eighth quality start of the season.

Jeremiah Estrada, Mason Miller and Robert Suarez worked an inning apiece to finish the Padres’ 16th shutout of the season and first since July 30. Five of those shutouts have come against the Rockies.

Thank goodness for the Rockies and their ilk. But especially the Rockies, against whom the Padres are 8-2 this season.

Before beginning a series in Minnesota on Aug. 29, the Padres’ 46-24 record against teams with losing records was best in the major leagues. They have since gone 4-6 against the Twins, Orioles and Rockies. Three of those four victories have come against the Rockies.