SAN DIEGO -- Anywhere Tyler Chatwood pitches on the road is home.

The 26-year-old right-hander proved that again Wednesday afternoon as he blanked the San Diego Padres for eight innings and the Colorado Rockies avoided a three-game sweep by shutting out the Padres 2-0 at Petco Park.

Not that shutting out the Padres or beating them in the finale of any series is much of a feat.

Wednesday marked the eighth time this season that the Padres were shut out. And they are 0-9 in the last game of a series, including four losses when a win would have given them a series sweep.

Still, Chatwood's road record this year is more than impressive. And he backed his pitching with a tactically perfect single that helped score the only run that the Rockies needed.

Chatwood, 26, gave up three hits and a walk while striking out seven Padres over eight innings. Left-handed closer Jake McGee pitched a perfect ninth to get his seventh save.

Chatwood is now 4-0 in four road games this season with a major-league-best 0.33 road earned run average. On the flip side, Chatwood is 0-2 on his home turf at Coors Field in Denver with a 7.20 ERA in two starts.

"I think it is just a coincidence," said Chatwood. "I've had only two starts at home. It all goes off my fastball command and I had good command on both sides of the plate today. I was able to throw cutters and curveballs off this.

"I just try to go out there and get outs and keep us in the game as long as I can."

"His two-seamer had some depth to it and he got some big outs with it today," said Rockies manager Walt Weiss. "His fastball plays up because there is finish to it and late action. Chatty is one of those guys that when you see his name on the lineup card you feel really good."

Unless you are the home team and Chatwood is visiting.

"He controlled both sides of the plate today," said Padres manager Andy Green. "We didn't create a lot of chances. We have to create more pressure."

Chatwood out-dueled 26-year-old Padres starter Cesar Vargas, who allowed one run on four hits and three walks over six innings and saw his ERA rise from 0.87 to 1.10 in his third major-league start.

"I just try to do the same thing in every start," said Vargas. "Stay consistent and work pitch to pitch."

Only one Padre reached second against Chatwood, and the Padres had two runners on base in only one inning.

After Brett Wallace lined an opposite-field double off the wall just inside the left-field foul pole with two outs in the seventh, Chatwood walked Melvin Upton Jr. partially by design.

"I definitely was careful with Upton right there," said Chatwood. "I tried to attack (Alexei) Ramirez a little more and luckily it went well."

Ramirez, the next hitter, grounded out to short to end the Padres' only real threat.

Chatwood retired 10 straight Padres between a two-out Matt Kemp single in the first and Upton's lead-off single in the fifth. He then retired seven straight hitters before Wallace's double.

The Rockies scored the game's first run in the top of the fifth with the help of Chatwood's perfectly placed single.

Reserve catcher Tony Wolters opened the fifth by drawing a walk from Vargas.

Chatwood, who was hitting in the eighth spot in the lineup, squared as if to bunt, but the pitcher pulled the bat back at the last second and hit a roller toward short.

Shortstop Ramirez, who had broken toward second to cover the bag on the perceived bunt, reversed ground and dived for Chatwood's grounder. But the ball ticked off Ramirez's glove and rolled into short left allowing Wolters to reach third.

Wolters scored on second baseman Cristhian Adames' ground out to Padres first baseman Wil Myers.

The game remained 1-0 until the top of the ninth when the Rockies made it 2-0 on a squeeze bunt by DJ LeMahieu.

The Rockies threatened to expand their lead against the Padres bullpen in the eighth but were denied by center fielder Jon Jay's leaping catch at the wall to end the threat.

Charlie Blackmon singled off right-handed reliever Carlos Villanueva with one out and advanced to second on a walk drawn by Trevor Story. Right-hander Kevin Quackenbush replaced Villanueva and retired Carlos Gonzalez on a routine fly to left. Nolan Arenado then hit a drive over Jay's head to straight-away center. The center fielder raced back and timed his leap perfectly, catching the drive as he collided with the wall.

Mark Reynolds and Gerardo Parra greeted Padres left-handed reliever Brad Hand with back-to-back singles opening the ninth. With runners at the corners, Hand struck out Wolters. But Reynolds raced home on a squeeze bunt by LeMahieu, who was pinch-hitting for Chatwood.

NOTES: Padres manager Andy Green said three infielders who are on the disabled list - 3B Yangervis Solarte (hamstring), 2B Cory Spangenberg (quad) and INF Alexi Amarista (hamstring) -- might begin rehab assignments next week. But RHP Tyson Ross (shoulder inflammation) still has no probable date to even resume a throwing program . . . Rockies SS Trevor Story, the National League Rookie of the Month, struck out in a 22nd straight game in his first at-bat Wednesday . . . Rockies LHP Tyler Anderson, who has been on the disabled list since the start of the season with an oblique strain, is close to starting a rehab assignment . . . RHP Tyler Chatwood has pitched 24 2/3 straight scoreless innings on the road, the longest scoreless-innings streak by a Rockies pitcher since Ubaldo Jimenez worked 27 straight road scoreless innings in 2010.