Two big innings propel Diamondbacks to series win over Padres: By The Numbers
Sep 15, 2014, 12:25 AM | Updated: 1:56 am
Two high-scoring innings made the difference Sunday afternoon at Chase Field.
The Arizona Diamondbacks’ offense came to life the evening before in a 10-4 win over the San Diego Padres, and the home team’s batters broke out again, especially in the third inning of the series finale.
Arizona turned a 2-0 deficit into a 5-2 lead in a half-inning that featured four hits and one Padres error.
The Padres quickly got back into the game with two more runs off D-backs starter Trevor Cahill in the top of the fourth, but Arizona maintained a one-run lead until the bottom of the eighth, when the team scored three more times, even having two on base when San Diego finally got out of the inning.
The visitors added two runs in the top of the ninth — and even left runners on first and third — but it wasn’t enough as Arizona won the contest 8-6, its first series win since Aug. 29-31 against Colorado.
All of the Diamondbacks’ runs came off singles, wild pitches or errors, and they only tallied five RBI collectively, despite scoring eight runs.
San Diego actually had more hits (12) than Arizona did (10), but the Padres fell to 68-80 with the loss. The Diamondbacks’ victory was their second in a row, and they improved to 61-88, two games ahead of the Rockies for fourth place in the NL West.
Here’s a look at Sunday’s high-scoring affair by the numbers:
0
After having a huge evening in the series-opening loss to San Diego, center fielder A.J. Pollock had his second 0-for-4 game in a row. He also struck out three times Sunday — now batting .311 on the year — but did record one base on balls.
1
Reliever Zeke Spruill worked three innings and recorded his first Major League win. The 25-year-old right-hander allowed just one hit, walked one and struck out one in 44 pitches Sunday.
2
Cahill allowed three runs or more Sunday for just the second time in his last 11 starts — the other coming in a 9-5 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers on Aug. 26.
4
Despite coming in with a four-run lead, closer Addison Reed had an adventurous ninth inning, giving up four hits and two earned runs before getting the last out of the game. The right-hander’s ERA jumped from 3.64 to 3.83 after the appearance, in which he also struck out one batter and tossed 19 pitches.
5
Arizona’s five-run third inning was its biggest frame since plating nine runs in the eighth inning of a 14-4 win over the Colorado Rockies on Aug. 9.
13
The D-backs improved to 13-2 in their last 15 games when scoring five or more runs.
17
Arizona has won 17 straight games, including Saturday night, when scoring seven runs or more.
6/3/14 – 6/5/14
Shortstop Chris Owings hadn’t recorded an RBI in back-to-back games since he had seven over a three-game series against the Rockies from June 3-5.
8/18
Shortstop Didi Gregorius had his first multi-hit game since Aug. 18 at Washington. The 24-year-old went 2-for-4 with one RBI and two runs scored in the series finale.
2011:
Arizona finished 2014 with a 12-7 record against San Diego, good for its first season series win over the NL West foe since 2011. The D-backs’ 12 wins this season over the Padres tied a club record, which also happened in 2001 and 2002.