*Photo from the Daily Jefferson County Union*
The San Diego Padres needed Yu Darvish. So, Darvish stepped up. Darvish struck out 12 hitters, Eric Hosmer homered, and the Padres defeated the Arizona Diamondbacks 6-2 on Saturday night. Manny Machado also homered and drove in two runs for the 3rd place Padres.
Darvish said of his start that "I feel like everything is starting to come back together. I'm able to be myself. I felt pretty good all along. I just wasn’t able to hit my spots in certain games. Again, I feel like everything’s coming together."
Machado got the Padres going early, hitting a solo homer to left field, giving the Padres a 1-0 lead early on. In the second, Hosmer was able to tie the game 2-2 with a solo homer, this one going to right field. In the 8th inning, Machado hit an RBI single, Machado scored on a bases loaded walk, and Austin Nola hit a two run single, putting the Padres ahead 6-2.
For the D-Backs, the only runs they got against Darvish and the Padres bullpen came in the top of the second inning. Christian Walker hit a two run home run to center field, which, at the time, put Arizona ahead 2-1, before the Padres scored 5 unanswered runs to win the game.
Darvish threw 7 innings for the Padres in his start, striking out 12 hitters, allowing two runs on 4 hits, walking no one, although he got stuck with a no decision. Drew Pomeranz was the winner of the game, improving to 1-0 this season, pitching a scoreless 8th inning. Mark Melancon then came on and shut things down in the 9th.
Padres manager Jayce Tingler said of Darvish's start that "He did what aces do, he shook it off and almost said like, ‘That’s all you get from here,' and just continued to execute pitches. That’s exactly what you want to see from all your guys, but that’s what top-line pitchers do. If they do give up runs early, that’s all you get, and that’s what he did."
Brett De Geus got the loss for Arizona, falling to 2-1 this season, giving up 3 runs in the 8th, while not recording an out. It wasted a fine outing from Taylor Widener, who allowed two runs on 4 hits and two walks, fanning 7 hitters in 5 innings pitched. Tyler Gilbert pitched two innings of relief, and Joe Mantiply pitched one.
D-Backs manager Torey Lovullo said of Widener that "It was just him believing his stuff and getting after it, getting big outs and getting the team back in the dugout with the score tied. That's what we look for from our starting pitchers, the damage control, not giving up those scratch runs and making pitches when your back is against the wall. Taylor did all that today."
The D-Backs and Padres wrap up their series Sunday afternoon, with Madison Bumgarner drawing the start for Arizona, and Blake Snell taking the mound for San Diego.
Comments
Post a Comment