Dose of Venom: D-backs rally but fall to Padres
May 28, 2014, 7:22 AM | Updated: 7:22 am
Arizona Diamondbacks left-hander Wade Miley breezed through the first two innings on Tuesday against the San Diego Padres, but things temporarily fell apart in the third.
The Padres sent eight batters to the plate in the inning, and scored all three runs they would plate against Miley – turning a one-run deficit into a two-run lead en route to a 4-3 win capped off by Tommy Medica’s go-ahead home run in the eight inning.
“I didn’t make pitches, left a few pitches up and they capitalized on it,” Miley said.
But after hitting that temporary snag, Miley settled in. The left-hander eventually set a career high with 11 strikeouts, becoming just the fourth left-hander in D-backs history to strike out 11 in a game.
Arizona rallied from the 3-1 hole, scoring a run in both the sixth and seventh innings. But after the D-backs tied things up in the seventh, Medica pulled an Evan Marshall breaking ball down the left-field line for a two-out homer that put the Padres on top for good.
“They were the best 2 curveballs I’ve found this year … Try not to let him beat you, try to execute pitches down in the zone, but he went down and got it,” Marshall said. ”
The Good
A couple of droughts ended Tuesday. Martin Prado had not hit a home run since Sept. 26, 2013 but took one deep in 2nd inning.
Also, Gerardo Parra broke his 11 at-bat hitless streak against left-handed pitchers in the seventh with an RBI single to left.
Finally, the D-backs snapped Padres starter Eric Stults’ 18-game streak of starts with two or fewer walks. The Diamondbacks earned four walks off of him Tuesday.
The Bad
D-backs reliever Evan Marshall had his streak of 9.1 innings without an earned run snapped by giving up a solo home run by Tommy Medica.
After picking up an RBI single in San Diego’s three-run third inning, Chase Headley now owns an 11-game hitting streak against the D-backs.
Stat of the Game
11: The number of strikeouts Wade Miley had Tuesday against the Padres, breaking his previous career-high of 10 He is the first Diamondbacks lefty to strike out at least 11 hitters since Randy Johnson did it on Aug. 22, 2008.
He Said it
“It still hurts,” Marshall said. “A loss in a big league game is something you don’t want to happen, but they’re good hitters so things like this happen and all I can do is to continue to go out there and execute.”
Noted
– Yasmani Grandal received the fourth error of the season when he was called for interference in the 7th inning with Paul Goldschmidt at the plate.
– After Monday’s Memorial Day game drew 35,580 fans, Tuesday’s attendance dropped down by nearly 50 percent with 17,862 in attendance.
Up Next
An experienced veteran opposes a young rookie as Tim Stauffer faces off against Chase Anderson on Wednesday in the series’ rubber match. Anderson is searching for his third win this season. First pitch is schedule at 6:40 p.m. with pregame starting 30 minutes earlier. You can catch all the action on Arizona Sports 98.7 FM.
