Schimpf Homers, but Padres Fall in Series Opener

At this stage of a long baseball season, the most compelling aspects of these final games for the San Diego Padres are personal achievements more so than team wins. In San Diego’s loss on Friday night, Ryan Schimpf provided a milestone achievement which served as a silver lining, hitting his 20th blast on the year over the center field wall in the fourth inning.

In the end though, two separate two-out two-run home runs proved to be the difference in the Arizona Diamondbacks‘ 5-3 victory over the Padres on Friday night. The win improved the Diamondbacks’ record to 67-93, while it dropped the Padres to 68-92.

San Diego starting pitcher Edwin Jackson made some impressive pitches, but simply could not close out innings. He pitched six full innings allowing five earned runs, each scored with two outs. Most notably, Paul Goldschmidt and Chris Owings homered. The Owings homer scored the go ahead runs in the sixth, and gave Arizona reliever Randall Delgado the win.

The Padres’ offense was sparked by the Schimpf homer in the fourth, as they tied the game following the blast with a Manuel Margot RBI hit. But the bats then went silent for the remainder of the game, as the offense failed to score. In total, the Padres pounded out nine hits, but went just 2 for 12 with runners in scoring position and left nine on base.

One other positive worth noting is the impressive performance from Luis Sardinas. The young infielder put two very good at bats together last night. His two hits means that he has reached base safely five times in the past two games. For a young player, this confidence boost is welcomed entering the offseason.

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Obviously though, Arizona’s pitching deserves credit for silencing San Diego’s bats with the exception of Sardinas and the fourth inning. Starter Braden Shipley went five innings, Patrick Corbin went two and a third scoreless, and Daniel Hudson earned the save in the series opening win for the Diamondbacks.

Even though San Diego’s starter Edwin Jackson did not pitch as he would have liked to, he stated following his final start of 2016 that he wishes to return to the Padres next season. Jackson will certainly be a topic of conversation for the Padres entering the winter.

Still, before the Padres can think about what they must do to improve the roster this offseason, they have two more games to play. Tonight, the Padres and Diamondbacks square off once again in the middle game of this weekend series. Starting for the Padres will be veteran left-handed pitcher Clayton Richard. Arizona will counter with Archie Bradley.

Next: Series Preview: Padres at Diamondbacks

The game tonight begins at 5:10 PM PT, and can be seen for free on MLB.TV, or locally on Fox Sports San Diego.