*Photo from AP News*
The breakout was coming for Jake Cronenworth, he knew it. Cronenworth drove in two runs, CJ Abrams brought in another run, and the San Diego Padres defeated the Arizona Diamondbacks with a 4-0 shutout victory on Wednesday afternoon in Arizona.
Playing just a two game set against their division rival D-Backs, the Padres picked up a split of the series, and are an even 5-5 in their last 10 games. This win was particularly big for Cronenworth, who snapped a 0-26 skid he was in at the plate, driving in two runs in this win.
Cronenworth said of finally getting a hit that "I knew I was going to do it. I was still having good at-bats, getting on base, just like previously, making hard outs. I was hoping they’d fall at some point, and they did today."
After the first 4 innings went scoreless, Cronenworth got it going in the 5th. He singled into right field, scoring Jurickson Profar to make it a 1-0 lead. One inning later in the 6th, Abrams hit a single into left field, doubling the lead to 2-0 when Ha-Seong Kim came around to score, with Trent Grisham advancing to second base.
In the final third of the game, Luke Voit increased the Padres lead to 3-0, hitting an RBI single in the 7th inning to score Cronenworth. In the 9th, Profar came around to score again, this time on an RBI double from Cronenworth, making the Padres lead 4-0, which was enough to effectively seal the win and a series split.
Getting the start for the Padres was Mike Clevinger, who turned in a solid outing to get the win. Clevinger pitched 6 shutout innings, allowing just one hit and one walk while striking out 6 hitters. Nick Martinez pitched the final 3 innings to record the save.
Padres manager Bob Melvin said of Clevinger that "It’s been stop, start, stop, start all year for him. Cut him off after three innings, 60 pitches, 90 pitches. He went out there and looked like a different guy today. He knew he had the brunt of the game in him, fastball velo was there from the very beginning, cutter, breaking ball, everything. This is why this organization went out and got him."
Starting opposite Clevinger was Arizona's Madison Bumgarner. In his start, Bumgarner allowed one run on 4 hits over 5 innings, getting slapped with the loss. In relief, Kyle Nelson, Noe Ramirez, and Ian Kennedy each allowed a run, with Joe Mantiply adding a scoreless inning.
Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo said of the loss that "It's simple, it's easy, it's approach-based, the results are there. And then we have games like this. We just have to keep pounding away our message about line drives and using the middle of the diamond. I just feel like we need to have smarter at-bats overall."
Up next, the Padres are back in action on Thursday night against the rival Los Angeles Dodgers, with Joe Musgrove getting the start. After a day off on Thursday, the D-Backs face the Colorado Rockies, with Merrill Kelly taking the hill.
Well done, does Bumgarner still haven stuff?
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