The Diamondbacks dropped the series opener to the San Diego Padres 5-3 at Chase Field. Merrill Kelly was slammed for four runs in the top of the first inning and Arizona never recovered in this game.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!Adding to the frustration of the night was the Braves shutting out the Kansas City Royals to cripple their postseason chances. With just two games to go, the team no longer controls its playoff destiny and will need help from the Milwaukee Brewers and the Royals to get back to the postseason.
The Padres got to work on Kelly, scoring two quick runs off the right-hander on RBI singles from Manny Machado and Jake Cronenworth. Xander Bogaerts hit a slow roller to the left side of the infield, causing Ketel Marte to make a rushed throw to first to try to complete the double play. The throw airmailed Christian Walker to allow a third run to score and David Peralta added another RBI single in the inning to put Arizona on the backfoot early.
The Diamondbacks were able to answer the Padres’ four-run first with two in the bottom half of the inning. Corbin Carroll crushed a leadoff home run off Yu Darvish and a Lourdes Gurriel Jr. sacrifice fly cut the deficit in half. However, they were never able to make much more happen offensively.
It appeared after that disastrous first inning that Kelly settled down and Arizona was going to chip away at Yu Darvish, but San Diego scored a key tack-on run in the fourth. With a runner at first, Luis Arraez hit a fly ball that stayed up in the air forever yet landed perfectly between Carroll and Pavin Smith in right-center for a triple that put San Diego up three.
Arizona only had one more opportunity to make some noise in this game. Eugenio Suárez singled in the Diamondbacks’ third run of the game on a ground ball hit through the hole at short to score Gurriel, who was hit by a pitch. A fielding miscue by Machado put the tying runs in scoring position but Geraldo Perdomo couldn’t take advantage as he grounded out to second. Arizona would get the tying run to the plate in the following three innings but went 0-for-4.
Next Game
The Diamondbacks have just two games left to try to salvage their season. They’ll send left-hander Eduardo RodrÃguez (3-4, 5.56 ERA) to the mound while right-hander Randy Vasquez (4-7, 5.18 ERA) goes for the Padres. First pitch at Chase Field will be at 5:10 P.M. MST.
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Michael McDermott covers the Arizona Diamondbacks, Arizona Cardinals, and more for Burn City Sports. You can follow him on X via @MichaelMcD8393
