DENVER -- A former fullback who plowed through defenses at Granite Hills High, Padres right fielder Brian Giles often brings a football player's mentality to the baseball diamond.

In the eighth inning of a tie game against Colorado on Tuesday night, Giles bore down on Danny Ardoin as if the Rockies' catcher were a quarterback standing in the pocket. Giles slid hard into Ardoin's right leg, appearing to break up a double play and put the Padres on the verge of a comeback victory.

But home-plate umpire Joe West stepped in and called Giles for running outside the base line, short-circuiting the rally and sending the Rockies toward a 3-2 win in 11 innings at Coors Field.

"That was the right call," said Padres manager Bruce Bochy, who nonetheless joined Giles in arguing with West at the plate. "Brian did what you want to do, which is break up a double play. But you have to be able to touch home plate."

Bochy didn't think that Giles' slide -- which caused Ardoin to come up limping, although he remained in the game -- crossed the line from aggressiveness to dirty play. Colorado manager Clint Hurdle, though, implied otherwise in his postgame remarks.

"I had a good angle on it," Hurdle said. "All I'm gonna say is, we play them 14 more times (this season)."

Hurdle wouldn't elaborate.

The Rockies have won four of the first five meetings between the teams, and on Tuesday sent the Padres into last place in the National League West, three games behind San Francisco at 5-8. Matt Holliday drove in Todd Helton with the winning run in the 11th inning on a two-out single to right field off Jon Adkins, a reliever summoned from Triple-A Portland on Tuesday and the sixth Padres pitcher.

The Padres outhit Colorado 11-6, but they went 2-for-15 with runners in scoring position and stranded 14 runners, including eight in the final four innings.

"We had golden opportunities. We just didn't cash in," Bochy said. "Those are always tough when you create as many chances as we did and don't execute."

Depleted by seven pounds after coming down with a case of food poisoning in Atlanta last weekend, Padres right-hander Clay Hensley gutted it out to pitch four innings in his second major-league start. The only run he allowed came in the fourth, when Helton led off with a double down the right-field line, advanced to third base on a wild pitch, and scored on Holliday's sacrifice fly.

"I threw up about eight times on Sunday," Hensley said. "It was tough today. I was a little weak."

Another sacrifice fly in the fifth off Brian Sweeney lifted starter Josh Fogg and the Rockies into a 2-1 lead. Then came the decisive eighth. Josh Barfield, who had tripled and scored the Padres' first run in the fourth, led off with a single to right and moved to second on Giles' single off the glove of second baseman Luis Gonzalez.

Mike Piazza hit a bleeder to short left field that went for a game-tying double -- his second double of the game -- when Holliday dove for the ball and allowed it to bounce past him. After an intentional walk to Adrian Gonzalez loaded the bases, Khalil Greene grounded a pitch from reliever Jose Mesa sharply to third baseman Garrett Atkins, who fired home for the first out. Ardoin took a couple of steps away from the plate to throw to first, but Giles veered inside the base line by several feet to take out Ardoin's right leg, making his relay sail wide.

West called runner's interference on Giles, giving the Rockies a double play, and he ordered Piazza and Gonzalez to return to second and first base, respectively. Vinny Castilla walked to refill the bases, but Mesa struck out Ben Johnson to end the threat.

The Padres' best scoring chance might have been in the fifth, when Johnson launched a one-out triple to center. But after working a hitter's count against Fogg, who stifled the Padres for the second time this season, pinch hitter Mark Bellhorn waved at three consecutive change-ups for the strikeout. Dave Roberts then grounded to second for the final out.

With runners at the corners in the 11th, David Cortes (1-0) struck out pinch hitter Doug Mirabelli looking to finish off the Padres.

"Obviously, we'd like to start getting some pinch hits," Bochy said.

Contact staff writer Brian Hiro at b_hiro@hotmail.com. To comment, go to nctimes.com.