Martin Perez dazzles as Padres win, snap out of Rockies' spell

SAN DIEGO — The San Diego Padres do not know if they’ll get Yu Darvish back. They do know not if Joe Musgrove will truly round into form. They do not know how long Michael King can go like he has.

For at least a game, Martín Pérez looked like someone to rely on.

The 33-year-old veteran fired six strong innings in his debut with his new employer and the Padres’ bats snapped out of their Rockies’ trance in a 3-2 win on Saturday in front of a sellout crowd of 44,029 at Petco Park.

The victory snapped a five-game skid against the Rockies and was just the Padres’ third win in nine games against Colorado, which entered the game with the second-worst record in the National League.

They fought tooth and nail to do it, too.

A bunt from Jackson Merrill helped the Padres scratch across a run after Rockies rookie Tanner Gordon opened the game with four perfect innings.

Two innings later, Merrill’s sacrifice fly to left capped a two-run rally for just enough cushion for the Padres’ bullpen.

Jason Adam pitched a scoreless seventh, Tanner Scott allowed a home run to former Marlins teammate Jacob Stallings in his Padres debut and Robert Suarez preserved the one-run lead in the ninth.

The Padres had nothing to show for their first 12 at-bats against Gordon — who had allowed six home runs through his first three starts in the majors — when Manny Machado walked to start the fifth inning.

Xander Bogaerts followed with a single off third baseman Ryan McMahon’s glove.

Then, with his team down 1-0, Merrill sacrificed both runners over with a bunt, setting up David Peralta’s game-tying groundout to second.

Gordon turned in another scoreless frame for the majors’ worst pitching staff (5.46 ERA) before the Padres got to work on Colorado’s bullpen.

Jake Cronenworth led off with a single, Machado dropped a soft double behind first base and Bogaerts gave the Padres a 2-1 lead with a sharp single to left, putting runners on the corners.

Merrill’s ensuing fly ball to the warning tracking in left proved to be useful insurance when Stallings’ pinch-hit homer in the eighth snapped Scott’s 172/3-inning scoreless streak.

Pérez more than did his part in his Padres debut, tying a season high with seven strikeouts over six largely low-stress innings.

Hunter Goodman tagged Pérez for a home run with one out in the third inning. He gave up back-to-back, two-out singles in the fifth inning.

And that’s it, as Pérez had thrown just 80 pitches — 60 strikes — in handing a 1-1 game to the bullpen.

While the 33-year-old Pérez had struggled as he returned from a groin injury in late June, he’d thrown six shutout innings in his last start before the trade deadline to encourage suitors to take a look.

Saturday’s start lowered Pérez’s ERA to 4.96 on the season.