Sedona Red Recap: Weeks Jr. leads big bats as D-backs drop Padres

PHOENIX — Too bad so few saw it in person because it’s been a rare occurrence this season: an Arizona Diamondbacks home win.

Rickie Weeks, Jr. homered, while Michael Bourn and Jean Segura each had three hits and drove in a run to help lead the D-backs to a 7-5 victory over the San Diego Padres, evening the three-game series on Tuesday.

Zack Godley pitched five innings for the win.

Brad Ziegler earned the save, his 18th.

Unfortunately, all that good was performed before a sparse Tuesday night crowd of 14,110, the smallest ever to witness a ballgame in the history of Chase Field.

Perhaps, it was to be expected.

The D-backs haven’t given fans much reason to attend.

In 47 home games, the D-backs have but 15 wins, the second-fewest in baseball.

Down two runs in the third inning, the D-backs exploded for four runs, three coming off the bat of Weeks, Jr. The home run, his fifth of the season, measured 451 feet.

Two innings later with the game tied at 4, the D-backs once again answered as Paul Goldschmidt, who had already singled in a run in the third, drove home the go-ahead run with a sacrifice fly.

Goldschmidt finished with two RBI.

Bourn and Segura added insurance runs with RBI singles in the seventh inning.

Segura also scored three times.

Godley (2-0) didn’t have his best stuff, but he did just enough in a spot-start with Zack Greinke on the disabled list.

The Padres scored a pair of runs in both the third and fifth innings: Wil Meyers (triple) and Yangervis Solarte (single) plated runs in the third, while Matt Kemp and Alex Dickerson delivered RBI doubles in the fifth.

Godley, optioned to Triple-A Reno following the game, allowed four runs on eight hits with three walks and two strikeouts.

The win snapped the D-backs two-game losing streak.

THE GOOD

Named an All-Star for the fourth time before the game, Goldschmidt delivered, as he usually does. After back-to-back one-out singles by Segura and Bourn in the third inning, Goldschmidt hit a ground ball through the hole and into left field to plate the D-backs’ first run. It was Goldschmidt’s sixth RBI of the homestand and 57th of the season, second-most on the team, behind Jake Lamb (59). By the way, Goldschmidt has now reached base safely in 19 of his last 20 home games against the Padres.

Sometimes a player just has another’s number. Weeks Jr. has Friedrich’s. The one-out, three-run home run in the third was his fifth hit in 11 plate appearances against the left-hander. Weeks Jr. finished 1-for-3 against Friedrich, raising his batting average to .417 (5-for-12) with two homers and five RBI against the pitcher. Weeks Jr. did not have a hit on the homestand before the home run — of course, he missed three games while on the bereavement list. For what it’s worth, Weeks is hitting .319 (15-for-47) in his last 13 starts.

At this rate, Bourn will never get another day off. Starting for the fifth straight game, the center fielder singled twice and tripled, the latter of which scored Segura with the D-backs seventh run of the game. It was all part of a two-run seventh inning. Prior to the Bourn at-bat, Segura singled to plate Lamb, who pinch-hit for Enrique Burgos and promptly tripled. Bourn, who has had one day off since June 24, is hitting .375 (18-for-48) with five doubles, one triple, one home run and six RBI in his last 11 starts.

THE BAD

Entering the game, Godley had walked four batters in five appearances this season. He walked three in the first three innings, matching his total from his previous big-league start (June 11 vs. Miami). Though only one of the walks scored, it was a leadoff free pass to the pitcher, Friedrich, on five pitches that kick-started a two-run third inning for the Padres. Myers tripled on a 3-1 changeup clocked at 89-mph to score the first run, and Solarte plated the second run for the early advantage. Through three innings, Godley threw 46 pitches.

In addition to an elevated pitch-count, Godley just could not keep Padres batters off base. Not once in his five innings of work did Godley pitch a clean inning. He allowed two more runs in the fifth as Kemp and Dickerson each hit run-scoring doubles to tie the game at 4. The four total runs were one fewer than Godley had surrendered this season, albeit in limited action. It was Kemp’s second RBI of the series and Solarte’s third. Solarte fairs well at Chase Field and now has a .325 average (26-for-80) in 20 career games after going 1-for-4.

STAT OF THE GAME

.500: The D-backs 1-thru-4 hitters went a combined 8-for-16 (.500) with six runs scored and seven RBI

HE SAID IT

“I thought that part of the order, Michael Bourn, Segura, Goldy and then obviously the three-run homer from Rickie Weeks — he’s just a scary hitter up there — did a good job,” manager Chip Hale said, adding about the offense. “We answered back. We didn’t stop playing. It was a good ballgame for us.”

NOTED

– Lamb recorded his seventh triple, matching the D-backs’ record for most triples before the All-Star Break.

– The D-backs bullpen was a man short with Daniel Hudson placed on the bereavement list. He is due back Saturday.

– David Peralta (back sprain) took live batting practice, hitting in the cages, before the game for the first time.

– Wearing their home alternate teal uniforms with teal outlined “A” cap, the D-backs moved their record to 5-10.

– With a first-pitch temperature of 107 degrees, the game was played with both the roof and panels closed.

– Coyotes 2016 first-round draft picks, Clayton Keller and Jakob Chychrun, threw out ceremonial first pitches.

UP NEXT

A pair of right-handers headed in opposite directions — Shelby Miller and Colin Rea — are the scheduled starters in game two of the three-game series on Wednesday.

First pitch is slated for 6:40 p.m. with pregame coverage beginning 40 minutes earlier on Arizona Sports 98.7 FM.

Miller (2-8) has dropped each of his last two outings and has one win since mid-May.

Three times over his past four starts, he’s allowed five or more runs with the Giants plating four of their five runs with two outs in his most recent appearance last Friday.

Miller is 1-1 in six career games, including five starts, against the Padres.

Meanwhile, Rea (5-3) will be looking for his third straight victory. He’s beaten the Reds and Yankees the last two times he’s taken the mound, the latter of which saw him hold New York to two runs (one earned) on four hits with a walk and five strikeouts in six innings.

Rea, who has never faced the D-backs, is the beneficiary of the second-highest run support among starting pitchers, receiving nearly seven runs (6.61) each appearance.

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