It wasn’t pretty but it was effective.
The Padres had a terrible 7th inning that turned into an outstanding 7th inning in a 5-4 win over the Diamondbacks on Sunday afternoon at Petco Park, completing a series win over Arizona and a 9-1 homestand that started on June 17 when they played the Reds in front of their first full-capacity crowd since 2019.
Nearly every game was a sellout and the club has made no secret they think the energy brought by the Friar Faithful helped.
“It’s gonna suck to leave,” says Padres Manager Jayce Tingler.
Yu Darvish threw 6.0 innings of one-run ball with seven strikeouts in another outing that will likely put him on the National League All-Star team. As they did so many times during the homestand, the Padres got their starter an early lead.
Tommy Pham led off with a home run, Trent Grisham doubled and scored on a Jake Cronenworth single and the Padres were up 2-0 before Arizona starter Zac Gallen could record an out. After that the offense dried up a bit and the Diamondbacks took advantage of a rough outing from Tim Hill.
The lefty gave up a couple of base hits then walked Josh Rojas (who was trying to bunt the runners over) to load the bases with nobody out. Hill got a grounder to shortstop that should have been a double play but Fernando Tatis Jr.’s throw sailed into right field for a 2-run error.
The D-Backs scored three times in the inning to take a 4-2 lead. That’s when the Padres bats lit up again.
Jurickson Profar led off with a pinch-hit single. Tommy Pham followed with a single that sent Profar to 3rd. Trent Grisham lined a double to left-center, his third double of the game, to make it a 4-3 game. Cronenworth singled home Pham and it was all tied up 4-4, setting up Tatis to make up for the error.
Of course he came through.
Tatis bounced a double down the left field line. Grisham scored what turned out to be the game-winning run because Emilio Pagan and Mark Melancon each tossed a perfect inning.
The Padres get a day off on Monday then start a 3-game set in Cincinnati on Tuesday afternoon.
The bit of bid news is starting pitcher Dinelson Lamet was placed on the 10-day Injured List with right forearm inflammation. Tingler says Ryan Weathers is a candidate to take Lamet’s next turn in the rotation.
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