Padres Drop Series in Desert

Mandatory Credit: Matt Kartozian-USA TODAY Sports

Saturday’s 5-2 loss was much of the same for San Diego. The offense was shut down by Vidal Nuno, who pitched into the 8th inning, striking out 4 and only allowing 2 runs on 2 hits. Jake Lamb launched his first career home run nearly into the pool in right center field. This made it a 2-0 D-backs lead. The score remained untouched until the 8th when Solarte had a two-run single that tied things up for San Diego. Didi Gregorius quickly responded in the bottom of the inning with a three-run home run, his 6th of the year, to put the D-backs up 5-2 and that would be the final score.

Andrew Cashner did not have a bad outing for his first major league start in over 2 months. He threw 5 innings, allowing 2 runs on 7 hits. The Padres bullpen is what let them down in the end. After two scoreless innings by Tim Stauffer, Kevin Quackenbush had a rough 8th, surrendering the go-ahead bomb by Gregorius. A few missed spots by Cashner and Quackenbush changed the tide of the game. The Friars only mustered 3 hits in the game. In the first two games, the Diamondbacks starting pitchers threw 15.2 innings and only allowed 6 hits in the span.