Padres honor Yangervis Solarte's late wife during loss to Rockies

DENVER -- Adam Rosales knew the ball was going out, and he knew how to celebrate the home run -- with a tribute to his mourning teammate.

Rosales' homer in the second inning was a small highlight in an otherwise tough day for San Diego. The Padres played with heavy hearts a day after Yangervis Solarte lost his wife, Yuliett, to cancer.

The 6-3 loss to the Colorado Rockies on Sunday was the least of their worries.

"Everybody's heart breaks for him right now," said Padres manager Andy Green. "He's had infectious energy all year long, and when you can consider the circumstances of his life, it's hard to fathom. So from our perspective, 'Hey, whenever you want to be back, you can come back. If you don't want to be back in the last two weeks, you don't have to be back.'

"But we'll continue to talk to him, offer our love and support, anything we can possibly do for his family from a logistics perspective."

Rosales paid tribute to his teammate with a jump and a clap at home plate after his homer, mimicking Solarte's home run celebration.

"We talked about it before the game today. If somebody hit a home run, we'd do the alligator arm for Solarte," Rosales said. "It was just a tribute. I feel like it would mean a lot to Solarte to know how much he means to us, how much his family means to the San Diego Padres."

Before the game, the Rockies held a moment of silence for Yuliett.

"I'm sure it was a tough day for them to play," Rockies manager Walt Weiss said. "You lose a family member, I'm sure there are a lot of heavy hearts over there. It certainly puts things in perspective."