DENVER -- Starting pitching has been a bane for the Padres over the past two weeks. Entering their weekend series against the Rockies, San Diego starters were sporting a 7.52 ERA over their previous nine games (the worst mark in baseball in that span), averaging fewer than 3 2/3 innings per appearance.

If the Padres expect to make a deep run this October, the rotation is going to have to be better than that. This weekend, it was.

Following quality starts from Nick Pivetta on Friday and Randy Vásquez on Saturday, Dylan Cease delivered five-plus solid innings in the Padres’ 8-1 win over the Rockies to take the series on Sunday afternoon at Coors Field.

“As starters we know we need to step it up and we did it, which is great,” Cease said. “We got to keep it going. We know we can, and

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