Diamondbacks hit 3 home runs, complete sweep over Padres

The Arizona Diamondbacks completed the sweep over the Padres and moved within half a game of first place in the National League West.

They can breath a sigh of relief as they return home. Arizona had blown leads against the Cubs and Rockies in the previous two series, and while they had chances to win both, they couldn’t pull away from the playoff contenders.

But against San Diego on a night the Dodgers came one out away from getting no-hit, the D-backs did what they needed.

After a six-run inning Friday and a four-run second Saturday, Arizona’s 5-4 win felt, well, uneventful.

But there was more power in the D-backs bats on Sunday than the rest of the week.

All of Arizona’s runs came off home runs. First baseman Paul Goldschmidt hit his 23rd of the season in the first inning, opening up the game for starting pitcher Clay Buchholz.

The Padres tied the game in the third, but center fielder A.J. Pollock wasted no time getting the lead back.

He hit a leadoff home run to open the fourth.

Shortstop Nick Ahmed got in on the action as well, hitting his 14th home run of the season two batters later. This gave the D-backs a 5-2 lead, enough for them to hold on and sweep San Diego.

Despite scoring 20 runs over the three-game series, those were the only home runs Arizona hit all series.

The Diamondbacks can return to the Valley more confident, even with David Peralta on the shelf with right shoulder tightness.

After going into the All-Star break with a 6-8 record in July, the team has rattled off six wins in its last eight tries.

They realistically could have won all eight.

Going back to July 20, the first game back from break, Arizona has not lost by more than one run.

To take a trip down memory lane: Archie Bradley was knocked for six runs in an 11-10 loss to the Rockies. The next night, Jorge De La Rosa and Yoshihisa Hirano gave up late home runs. The D-backs fell again.

An error cost Arizona against the Cubs on July 25, and then Brad Boxberger blew a save the next night.

Against the Padres, all that was fixed.

Zack Greinke took care of business on Friday. Bradley threw an eight pitch, six strike inning on Saturday and picked up the win. Hirano got the hold with a clean inning, and then got the team out of trouble again Sunday.

In Boxberger’s lone appearance against the Padres, he sent them down 1-2-3 and Arizona got the sweep.

With a couple breaks, the D-backs could have closed out July on a 10-game win streak.

Maintaining pace with the Dodgers and newly-acquired Manny Machado isn’t a poor alternative.

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