Padres Unable To Get Over The Cahill; Lose Series to Arizona

The Padres went up against Vista-born Trevor Cahill, and the Padres lack of offense made him feel right at home. Cahill threw a complete game masterpiece, and the Padres lost to Arizona 6-0, in the series finale.

The Padres fell behind early, after Diamondbacks first baseman Paul Goldschmidt homered for the second consecutive game, a solo shot to right that gave the D’Backs the early 1-0 lead. The homer also helped Goldschmidt push his hitting streak to a career-best 12 games. It was all the offense that Cahill would need.

It was not all of the offense the Diamondbacks supplied however. Miguel Montero added a two-run shot in the sixth, and Gerardo Parra also supplied a two-run jack. The Diamondbacks scored all of their runs, off of Padres starter Eric Stults.

Stults took the loss in the game, and had his worst outing in his brief Padres career. He went 6 1/3 innings, and gave up 6 earned runs on 7 hits. His record dropped to 1-2.

The Padres offense was as punchless as ever, mustering just six hits off of Cahill. The Padres also grounded into four double plays, and a botched suicide squeeze. Logan Forsythe led off the 5th with a triple to center field. After Everth Cabrera grounded out, Forsythe broke for home, but Stults could not get the bunt down, and Forsythe was tagged out. Cahill cruised the rest of the way.

Forsythe did have two hits in his first game of 2012, and Mark Kotsay also added a pair of hits, in his first game back from the disabled list. The Padres are off tomorrow, before opening a three-game series with the Giants.

NOTES:  Will Venable left the game in the third inning with an oblique strain. His injury status has not yet been updated, but it would not be surprising to see him hit the DL. The Padres also optioned Yasmani Grandal to AAA to make room for Kotsay. Grandal appeared in Saturday’s game as a defensive replacement, and flew out in his only at-bat.

The Padres will also activate closer Huston Street from the disabled list, in time for Tuesday’s game against the Giants. Street appeared in two games for Lake Elsinore, allowing two runs in two innings. The Padres will designate Matt Palmer for assignment. Palmer appeared in three games for the Padres, and gave up two runs in two innings.