ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS

D-backs offense goes silent, posts 19 straight outs to end game vs. Padres

Apr 12, 2019, 10:22 PM
San Diego Padres catcher Austin Hedges celebrates with relief pitcher Kirby Yates after the team's ...
San Diego Padres catcher Austin Hedges celebrates with relief pitcher Kirby Yates after the team's baseball game against the Arizona Diamondbacks, Friday, April 12, 2019, in Phoenix. The Padres won 2-1. (AP Photo/Matt York)
(AP Photo/Matt York)

PHOENIX — There was bound to be some regression for the Arizona Diamondbacks’ bats after such a strong start to the season and we got a taste of it on Friday night.

Arizona’s offense mustered only four baserunners and one run against the San Diego Padres in a 2-1 home loss, making it three losses in a row.

David Peralta’s RBI single in the bottom of the third with two outs to tie the game 1-1 was the last time a batter would reach base for the D-backs. Seriously. They recorded 19 straight outs to end the game.

This was not a sensational individual pitching effort from the counterpart, either. Padres starter Chris Paddack went only 5.1 innings and gave up all four of those baserunners. San Diego’s bullpen closed out the rest.

“We never really got into a rhythm,” manager Torey Lovullo said. “Seemed like when we had some good approaches to Paddack, he made pitches to finish us off and we could never really get in sync with him.”

On some nights, losing in blowout fashion would make it hurt less for Arizona considering the way Luke Weaver pitched.

Manny Machado fouled four straight pitches off Weaver in the first before homering to right for the game’s first run, but after that, the right-hander settled into the game and a strong overall outing.

Only two runners reached on him from then until the seventh.

The problem was that Weaver’s opposition Paddack was doing the same, leaving the game with no baserunners for three full innings until the top of the seventh.

Will Myers and Fernando Tatis Jr. hit back-to-back doubles to break the streak and a 1-1 deadlock to give the Padres the edge. Weaver was pulled there.

He went 6.1 innings, allowing two earned runs on five hits and no walks, striking out eight.

“Luke was pacing us, he was keeping us in the game, he was working both sides of the plate, elevating the fastball — just a really complete effort I thought,” Lovullo said.

During pregame availability, Lovullo discussed his philosophy in when to pull starting pitchers after Zack Godley’s performance on Thursday, and as Weaver’s loss showed, that ended up being another factor on Friday. Lovullo said after he did not think about pulling Weaver, taking into consideration how Weaver was handling the game.

It was the opposite decision on the other end by Padres manager Andy Green.

San Diego elected to pull Paddack at 88 pitches and 5.1 innings despite the fact he had gotten eight straight D-backs hitters out. The Padres’ bullpen got clean through the rest of the game, backing up Green’s strategy.

“I mean it worked out great, right?” Lovullo said. “At the time I was thinking, ‘Well, he’s locked in pretty well and let’s see what we can do [to] the bullpen’ so I was kind of in favor of the move to get him out of the game but clearly [Green] knew his candidates.”

Lovullo cited Green likely knew a pitch count for the 23-year-old rookie and that the guys in his bullpen were in a good spot.

Adam Jones summed up the D-backs’ loss well on Twitter.

These games are going to happen in a long, long season and skip agreed.

“Those are the frustrating parts of the game,” Lovullo said. “We’ve seen it already a couple of times where our pitchers have done a great job, kept us in the game (but) we haven’t done much offensively.

“That’s the nature of the beast.”

UP NEXT

Merrill Kelly gets the nod for Saturday’s showdown with the Padres at 5:10 p.m. You can listen to the action on 98.7 FM Arizona’s Sports Station.

Through two starts, the former Arizona State righty has a 2.54 ERA and has bounced back after a rough go in spring training.

He faces off with San Diego’s Matt Strahm, who nearly triples Kelly’s ERA at 7.04.

Arizona Diamondbacks starting pitcher Luke Weaver throws to a San Diego Padres batter during the first inning of a baseball game Friday, April 12, 2019, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Matt York) San Diego Padres' Manny Machado celebrates his solo home run against the Arizona Diamondbacks during the first inning of a baseball game Friday, April 12, 2019, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Matt York) San Diego Padres starting pitcher Chris Paddack throws to an Arizona Diamondbacks batter during the first inning of a baseball game Friday, April 12, 2019, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Matt York) San Diego Padres' Manny Machado watches his solo home run against the Arizona Diamondbacks during the first inning of a baseball game Friday, April 12, 2019, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Matt York) San Diego Padres' Manny Machado celebrates his solo home run with Padres' Franmil Reyes (32) against the Arizona Diamondbacks during the first inning of a baseball game Friday, April 12, 2019, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Matt York) Arizona Diamondbacks' David Peralta follows through on an RBI base hit during the third inning of the team's baseball game against the San Diego Padres, Friday, April 12, 2019, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Matt York) Arizona Diamondbacks' Jarrod Dyson scores on a base hit by David Peralta during the third inning of a baseball game against the San Diego Padres on Friday, April 12, 2019, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Matt York) San Diego Padres' Manny Machado looks to the mound after striking out against the Arizona Diamondbacks during the sixth inning of a baseball game, Friday, April 12, 2019, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Matt York) San Diego Padres Wil Myers (4) high-fives teammates after scoring against the Arizona Diamondbacks during the seventh inning of a baseball game Friday, April 12, 2019, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Matt York) Arizona Diamondbacks starting pitcher Luke Weaver watches a throw to the San Diego Padres during the seventh inning of a baseball game Friday, April 12, 2019, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Matt York)

Arizona Diamondbacks

Munetaka Murakami #55 of Team Japan celebrates after hitting a two-run double to defeat Team Mexico...
Associated Press

Japan walks off Mexico to set up World Baseball Classic final vs. USA

Shohei Ohtani sparked a ninth-inning rally as Japan walked off Mexico 6-5 to advance to the World Baseball Classic final against Team USA.
1 day ago
Tommy Henry #47 of the Arizona Diamondbacks pitches during the first inning of the game against the...
Arizona Sports

LHP Henry optioned as D-backs key in on final starting candidates

The Diamondbacks optioned Tommy Henry to Triple-A on Monday, whittling down their options to cement the backend of their starting rotation.
1 day ago
Starting pitcher Merrill Kelly #29 of Team USA throws a warm-up pitch during the first inning of th...
Alex Weiner

D-backs’ Merrill Kelly set up to start World Baseball Classic final for Team USA

Team USA "looks like" it will turn to Diamondbacks starting pitcher Merrill Kelly in the World Baseball Classic final on Tuesday. 
1 day ago
Paul Goldschmidt #46 of Team USA celebrates with Moookie Betts #3 after hitting a two-run home run ...
Associated Press

Turner, Goldschmidt lead Team USA to WBC final with win vs. Cuba

Defending champion United States romped over Cuba 14-2 on Sunday night to reach its second straight World Baseball Classic final.
2 days ago
David Peralta #6 and Eduardo Escobar #5 of the Arizona Diamondbacks celebrate after scoring on a si...
Haboob Blog

Former D-backs OF David Peralta rekindles Eduardo Escobar’s cat fear with Team Venezuela

David Peralta had some fun with Eduardo Escobar's fear of cats when they were teammates with the Diamondbacks.
1 day ago
Brandon Pfaadt #90 of the Arizona Diamondbacks pitches in the second inning against the Cincinnati ...
Kellan Olson

Diamondbacks reassign Brandon Pfaadt, send Seth Beer to Triple-A

The Arizona Diamondbacks made 11 roster moves on Sunday that cut their spring training roster down to 40.
2 days ago
D-backs offense goes silent, posts 19 straight outs to end game vs. Padres