DENVER -- Tyler Chatwood left nothing to chance Saturday.

At Coors Field, where fly balls can carry farther, Chatwood kept the ball on the ground repeatedly as the Colorado Rockies beat the San Diego Padres 5-3.

Chatwood (8-4) pitched 6 2/3 innings and got 16 outs on ground balls, including two double plays, and none on flyouts while allowing three runs on five hits and three walks.

Chatwood was backed by homers from Carlos Gonzalez, who hit a three-run shot and had four RBI, and Charlie Blackmon.

Carlos Estevez, who will be the closer after Jake McGee went on the disabled list Saturday, earned his first career save, snuffing out a rally after Jason Motte stumbled in the ninth.

With runners on first and second with no outs, Estevez got Melvin Upton Jr. to fly to deep center, putting runners at the corners. Alexei Ramirez then popped to first.

Pinch-runner Travis Jankowski entered the game and broke for second on Estevez's 0-2 pitch but was caught stealing. With Jankowski sliding toward him, second baseman DJ LeMahieu made a sliding grab of catcher Dustin Garneau's low throw and reached back to tag out Jankowski and end the game.

"I was just trying to catch it," LeMahieu said. "Tagging him was kind of the least of my worries once I saw the throw."

Chatwood has felt "a little under the weather for the last couple days." But even without what Rockies manager Walt Weiss called his "A" stuff, Chatwood turned in his ninth quality start of the season and fifth in his past six outings.

"I was able to keep them off balance," said Chatwood. "I guess you could call it effectively wild -- just missing and being able to get ground balls was big. The offense picked me up whenever I gave up runs. It seemed like they scored a bunch more."

Chatwood gave up two runs in the first. After Wil Myers walked with one out, he dashed to third on Matt Kemp's single to left and scored on a groundout. Upton Jr. singled home a run.

But Gonzalez hit a three-run homer, his 14th of the season, in the bottom of the inning to quickly give Chatwood a lead.

After the Padres tied the score at 3 in the fifth on Jon Jay's two-out single, the Rockies again wasted no time going ahead.

Blackmon led off the bottom of the inning with his seventh home run, a towering fly that hit high off the right-field foul pole. LeMahieu followed with a triple and scored when Gonzalez flared a single to short left.

The Rockies did all the damage against Erik Johnson (0-1) in his Padres debut. Johnson, acquired June 4 in the deal that sent James Shields to the Chicago White Sox, lasted 4 2/3 innings and allowed five runs, nine hits and two walks with three strikeouts.

The two walks came to the first two batters Johnson faced, and he paid dearly for them when Gonzalez homered. Johnson gave up two more singles before finishing a 32-pitch inning.

"During the first inning it was a little bit of being with a new team, trying to be yourself in a new place, in a new environment," Padres manager Andy Green said. "Sometimes it takes a lot of interaction. He found the interaction after the first inning and threw the ball well after that."

Motte got the final out in the eighth and then found trouble. He gave up a leadoff double to Kemp, hit pinch hitter Brett Wallace with a pitch and gave way to Estevez. He threw 28 pitches Friday night, and Saturday marked his fourth appearance in five days. Weiss said he wasn't going to go Estevez unless Motte put two runners on base.

"Today I just felt like my debut," Estevez said, referring to his first major league appearance April 23. "A little bit nervous but after the first pitch, 'OK, let's go. Let's get these three outs and (be) done.'"

NOTES: Padres 3B Yangervis Solarte left the game in the fifth inning with a left thumb contusion. ... RHP Bo Weiss, whose father, Walt, is the Rockies manager, was drafted in the 29th round by the New York Yankees but will go to North Carolina, which is where his father went to college. ... Padres RHP Andrew Cashner (strained neck) was placed on the 15-day disabled list. He threw six pitches before leaving his start Friday night. The move opened a roster spot for RHP Erik Johnson, who was recalled from High Class-A Lake Elsinore to start Saturday. ... Padres RHP Luis Perdomo, who relieved Cashner and pitched 5 2/3 innings, will take his spot in the rotation. ... Rockies LHP Jake McGee (sprained left knee) underwent an MRI on Saturday morning that revealed a sprained medial collateral ligament. He injured the knee Friday on the final pitch he threw to Wil Myers, who hit a three-run homer. ... Rockies RHP Carlos Estevez moved into the closer's role with McGee going on the disabled list. ... Rockies LHP Tyler Anderson will start Sunday and make his major league debut after being recalled Saturday from Triple-A Albuquerque where he went 1-1 in three starts with a 2.12 ERA.