Brandon Pfaadt continues to be invaluable to Diamondbacks in win over Padres

PHOENIX — Brandon Pfaadt has made seven starts since returning to the Diamondbacks’ starting rotation, and Arizona improved to 7-0 in those games after a 5-1 win against the San Diego Padres on Monday at Chase Field.

Tim Tawa’s three-run home run in the fourth inning off Michael King put the Diamondbacks ahead, and they held for their fifth win the last six games.

On a day dominated by trade news, and with the Diamondbacks falling short of their goals before the deadline, the players went out and set the tone for their 10-game homestand with a solid all-around win against a team right in the mix of the pennant chase with them.

“It’s hectic, but at the end of the day, we can’t really control anything that happens,” Pfaadt said. “We just got to stay within ourselves and focus on the game.”

The Diamondbacks (60-53) and Padres (58-55) entered this four-game series one game apart in the race for a National League Wild Card spot, with the Padres just on the outside of the bracket.

They play each other six more times, including three to end the season in San Diego. The tiebreaker is anyone’s game, as Arizona leads the season series 4-3. This is arguably the most important head-to-head matchup on the D-backs’ schedule.

“Just a good win against a division rival, we’re laying on top of one another in the standings,” manager Torey Lovullo said. “We just kept fighting all night long, and we finally broke through a couple times and that was the difference in the game.”

In a key matchup, on trade deadline day that followed a 10-game road trip requiring 12 innings out of their bullpen in the final three games, Pfaadt’s performance was greatly helpful on many fronts.

Brandon Pfaadt keeps rolling

Pfaadt cruised through six innings with 69 pitches, showing complete game-caliber efficiency.

He hit snags in the seventh, as a walk, single and throwing error from Nolan Arenado (which Tawa said ate at him for not scooping) led to a move to the bullpen. Juan Morillo struck out Xander Bogaerts to keep the Diamondbacks’ lead at 3-1.

Overall, Pfaadt pitched 6.2 innings with no earned runs, and therefore, through seven starts since coming back from Reno he has allowed seven earned runs in 40.2 innings, a 1.55 ERA.

In this span, he has 21 strikeouts and five walks.

“They were giving me strike one and then they were pretty aggressive after that. So we played that into our advantage,” Pfaadt said.

“(Getting Strike 1) is something I didn’t prioritize or didn’t do well enough early on. I think resetting, going from the bullpen to starting, I made that a priority. I’m not going to walk anybody. I’m going to get ahead of them and be in the driver’s seat. And I think that’s worked out well.”

Morillo delivered 1.1 scoreless innings, and Brandyn Garcia was set to enter another save situation — which would have been his third since Paul Sewald was moved out of the closer’s role last week — before the D-backs tacked on two runs in the eighth.

Garcia capped off the win with a 1-2-3 ninth inning.

Bottom of the order continues to put it together

In the lineup, Tawa recorded three hits, James McCann added another two and the bottom third of the order drove in all five runs.

Corbin Carroll went 0-for-5 from the top of the lineup, but Arizona still managed nine hits and five walks, finishing 3-for-7 with runners in scoring position.

“I think we just want to keep that momentum we have right now,” Tawa said of there being 49 games left. “We want to continue to keep the foot on the gas and win ballgames. These division games are important, obviously, but every game is. This is that final push. We’re in a good spot right now, so continuing to build that momentum and do what we’re capable of.”

The club did not have hot-hitting catcher Gabriel Moreno, who was scratched to attend the birth of his child.

Lovullo was not sure which day Moreno would be back after the game, but he mentioned trade deadline acquisition Lars Nootbaar, an outfielder, could report on Tuesday.

Monday attendance

22,008

Tuesday’s probables

Diamondbacks All-Star Eduardo Rodriguez (2.48 ERA) will start against Padres right-hander Randy Vasquez (4.45 ERA).

The game will start at 6:40 p.m. MST.

Related

Diamondbacks risk falling behind after anticlimactic trade deadlineDiamondbacks C Gabriel Moreno scratched on Monday to attend birth of his childDiamondbacks did not get all they wanted at trade deadline: ‘I wish we were able to do more’Diamondbacks will not be defined by tepid trade deadlineDiamondbacks trade for outfielder Lars Nootbaar from CardinalsWhich players interest the D-backs at the trade deadline? John Gambadoro has 5 trade targets