D-backs 1 , Padres 4 - Are you kidding me

With a chance to salvage a .500 road-trip was squandered with the Arizona Diamondbacks failing to put runs on the board the final two games against a pitiful San Diego Padres squad. I mean, this is an MLB team batting .235/.299/.390 with what is best described as a AAA roster. But no, our early season darling can only score one run against Jhoulys Chacin and Clayton freakin Richard, with both seeing time in the minors.

Let’s start with the good I guess. Every starter bar Patrick Corbin had a hit! Sure, they may have struck out 14 times but they got their hacks in. Corbin was good and qualified for what old people call a “quality start”, going 6 innings and striking out 8 while allowing 3 runs. He made some nice pitches at times and while his defense surely didn’t help him out there at times, he looked like the Corbin of old, pitching efficiently and with purpose. 77 pitches over 6 innings is fine every day of the week.

Now the bad. Well there were the 14 strikeouts I mentioned earlier with many coming with runners on base. Let’s see, Goldy led the way with 3, with Yasmany, Lamb and Ahmed each contributing 2 to the cause. The offense stranded 14 runners on the evening, all but ensuring a loss. Lamb just completely whiffed on a grounder to lead off the 5th, somehow escaping without an error. That started the damage for the Padres, who followed with a single and bloop double to score two, all but clinching the game this night.

The first started well, with the D-backs grabbing singles from Owings and Lamb sandwiched between a Goldy strikeout. That brought up Tomas, who tried to hit it into the Pacific Ocean and struck out, ending the inning.

Corbin started hot, getting two quick outs before Wil Myers hit a towering drive into the stands for a dong and giving the Padres a 1-0 lead.

The D-backs responded, with a 1-out Iannetta double and Ahmed single to tie things up 1-1. Corbin struck out and Pollock grounded out to strand Ahmed at 3rd after he stole the base. Corbin followed up the offense with a shutdown inning, needing only 7 pitches to get 3 groundouts.

The next two innings were quiet, with no runs and each team grabbing a hit before doing nothing with the opportunity.

That brings us to the 5th, where after another fruitless inning the Padres pounced. That weird Lamb play put a runner on 2nd with no outs, and a single from Austin Hedges up the middle put runners on the corners. Erick Aybar continued to somehow hit the ball, blooping that double into the left field corner that just barely landed fair, scoring both Solarte and Hedges after Tomas took his sweet time corralling the baseball. 3 quick outs later and the Padres had a 3-1 lead.

The D-backs responded with a runner in scoring position with 1 out, but Iannetta grounded into a double play erasing the opportunity. Corbin struck out the side, ending his night.

History did happen however, with the D-backs striking out 4 times in the top of the 7th as Chris Owings advanced to 1st on a throwing error by Hedges. That put Pollock on 3rd and Goldy up to bat, but Brad Hand gave him the business, and struck him out on 3 pitches.

Austin Hedges homered in the bottom of the 7th against Randall Delgado to push the lead to our final score 4-1, Padres.

Both teams went without much fanfare in the 8th and 9th innings, going down in order with 6 strikeouts combined. Brandon Maurer was especially electric, inducing a weak grounder and two strikeouts to close things out.

Onto the GameGraph.

Are - Nick Ahmed (+4.0%)
You - Chris Owings (+.8%), Andrew Chafin (.5%)
Kidding - Patrick Corbin (-10.9%)

HAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHHAHAHAHA wow I don’t think I’ve ever seen that low of WPAs in a game. oh sad day.

aldma said what we all were thinking, unfortunately those last 2 innings were terrible.

The D-backs head home for a LONG 10 game homestand with more NL West foes, starting with the Dodgers on Friday. Even though we’re 10-7, it’s still very early in this season and this homestand will go a long way into deciding what type of season we’ll end up having. Stay tuned to Az Snakepit for more amazing analysis by people way smarter than myself.