D-backs’ offense doesn’t make the trip to San Diego, fall to Padres

The momentum the Arizona Diamondbacks offense had in their previous two games against the Houston Astros came to a screeching halt Friday in San Diego, losing to the Padres 3-0.

After scoring 14 runs on Wednesday and five on Thursday, both wins, the D-backs could only muster four hits against San Diego pitching in game 1 of an important three-game series.

“We walked in here feeling good about being able to score some runs, so you get shutout and it’s not really anything you want to watch or go through,” D-backs manager Torey Lovullo said in a Zoom call with the media after the game.

Zach Davies struck out six and didn’t walk a batter while giving up three hits in 5.2 innings of work for the Padres.

Two of the four D-back hits came in the 5th inning with a couple of one-out singles by Eduardo Escobar and David Peralta, but pop outs by Stephen Vogt and Jake Lamb ended the only threat of the night for Arizona.

Craig Stammen, Drew Pomeranz, Emilio Pagan and Kirby Yates combined to only allow two baserunners for the remainder of the game.

The D-backs pitching matched the Padres with the exception of three pitches, as Fernando Tatis Jr., Jake Cronenworth and Edward Olivares each hit solo home runs to account for San Diego’s runs.

Lovullo managed the pitching differently Friday than he has in the past, using starter Luke Weaver for only three innings before handing the ball to Alex Young and Taylor Clarke.

The middle innings have been an issue for Weaver to begin the season, allowing 11 combined runs in the fourth and fifth innings during his first two starts against the Padres and Los Angeles Dodgers.

Lovullo was clear postgame that Weaver was not used as an opener, where a pitcher only goes through the batting order once before being removed.

“We saw that the trend was that at some point in that fourth, fifth inning things were potentially backing up on him and he just wasn’t having a lot of success,” Lovullo said. “So we just thought we would get out ahead of it.”

Lovullo also mentioned removing Weaver after three innings allows him to continue rebuilding strength after missing a considerable amount of time last season due to a forearm strain.

Weaver allowed two of the solo home runs prior to being removed, both to the first batter of an inning, while striking out three and walking one.

Young relieved Weaver and contributed two innings, allowing the third solo home run and three hits.

Clarke wrapped up the game with three scoreless frames.

The D-backs look to get back on track in game 2 of the series against San Diego on Saturday at 6:10 p.m. Listen to all the action live on 98.7 FM, Arizona’s Sports Station.