Sedona Red Recap: Padres touch up Hellickson, defeat D-backs

With the roof open, the Arizona Diamondbacks scored three runs on four hits.

With the roof closed, the D-backs scored two runs on three hits.

Add it all up and the home team still lost Friday, falling 6-5 to the San Diego Padres, who snapped the D-backs’ season-high three-game winning streak and evened the series at a game apiece.

An announced crowd of 28,677 watched the D-backs hit four home runs — off the bats of Paul Goldschmidt, Chris Owings, David Peralta and A.J. Pollock — but the biggest hit of the night belonged to Will Venable. His line drive single to left field off reliever Enrique Burgos (0-1) scored Justin Upton with the go-ahead run in the seventh inning.

Venable had three hits, falling a double short of the first cycle in Padres history.

James Shields earned the win, improving to 4-0 for the fifth time in his career. He allowed five runs on six hits with three walks and seven strikeouts in six innings.

D-backs starter Jeremy Hellickson, a former teammate of Shields, did not factor in the decision. He lasted just 4.2 innings, giving up five runs on eight hits with two walks and three strikeouts.

Acquired from Tampa Bay in the offseason, Hellickson has failed to make it through five full innings in three of his six starts.

Heavy winds and inclement weather forced the D-backs to close the roof at the start of the sixth inning.

THE GOOD

Taking advantage of two-out walk to Aaron Hill in the second inning, Owings hit a 2-0 pitch into the seats in left-center field for a home run. It was his second long ball of the season — the first of his career against the Padres — and it gave the D-backs their first lead of the game at 2-1. Owings finished 1-for-4 and is hitting .302 (13-for-43) over his last 11 home games.

After striking out on five pitches in his first-ever appearance against Shields in the first inning, Goldschmidt ripped a single to left field in his at-bat in the third. The base hit extended his streak of reaching base safely against the Padres to 20 straight games.

More Goldschmidt happens in the sixth inning: He and Peralta hit back-to-back home runs, the first time the D-backs have done so this season, to tie the game at 5. Goldschmidt has now homered in three straight games for the second time in his career (May 6-8, 2013). He finished the night 2-for-4.

With an infield single in the seventh inning, Pollock recorded his second multi-hit performance in the last four games. He was initially called out, but the D-backs challenged and the play was overturned after a 52-second review. Pollock had homered earlier, a two-out shot — his second of the season — in the fifth. He finished 2-for-5.

THE BAD

At least he’s consistent. After escaping runners on first and second with no outs in the first, Hellickson proceeded to give up runs in each of the next four innings, including two in the fifth. The pair of home runs he allowed doubled his season total to four. Hellickson has allowed at least three runs in five of his six starts.

The D-backs missed an opportunity to perhaps knock Shields out of the game in the sixth inning. Following the Goldschmidt and Peralta home runs, Yasmany Tomas and Aaron Hill walked, putting the go-ahead run in scoring position. However, Owings’ bunt forced Tomas out at third. Tuffy Gosewisch then struck out and pinch-hitter Ender Inciarte grounded out to end the threat.

Hitless in his previous 16 at-bats, spanning nine appearances, Venable broke out in a big way, a very big way. He homered in the second, tripled in the fourth and singled in the seventh. The home run, his third of the season, made it 1-0; the three-bagger gave the Padres a 3-2 lead, while the base hit put the visitors back in front 6-5. Venable finished 3-for-5, raising his average 67 points to .200.

A night after going a combined 0-for-6 with a walk and a strikeout, Wil Myers and Cory Spangenberg totaled five hits and three runs in six at-bats. Spangenberg added four walks. Myers’ four hits were a career-high. He was a triple shy of the cycle.

STAT OF THE GAME

4: The number of D-backs home runs, the most since they hit five on May 17, 2014, against the Los Angeles Dodgers

HE SAID IT (part I)

“I finally put up a zero in the first (inning),” Hellickson said. “I feel like any time we score five runs, I’ve got to come out with the win. It’s just frustrating. Everyone else did their part.”

HE SAID IT (part II)

“He just didn’t throw enough strikes early in the count, like we talked about,” manager Chip Hale said of Hellickson. “You have to control the counts against good hitters, and he didn’t do a very good job of that. (He) just threw a lot of pitches. It wasn’t a very good start for him tonight.”

NOTED

• Hill walked three times, doubling his season total to six.

• Peralta is hitting .400 (10-for-25) with four doubles, two home runs and six RBI in his last nine games.

• Goldschmidt’s home run moved him into sole possession of eighth place on the club’s all-time home run list, breaking a tie with Jay Bell (91).

• One positive from Hellickson’s start: He ended a four-start streak of being scored upon in the first inning.

• Including Myers and Venable, 360 Padre hitters have now fallen one hit shy of the cycle.

UP NEXT

Still in search of his first win of 2015, Chase Anderson takes the mound in game two of the four-game series on Saturday, May 9.

First pitch is scheduled for 5:10 p.m. with pregame coverage beginning 30 minutes earlier on Arizona Sports 98.7 FM.

Anderson (0-1) has pitched well, allowing three runs or fewer four times, and four of his outings have been one-run decisions, yet he has nothing to show for it. He’s coming off six innings of shutout ball at Los Angeles on May 3.

In four career starts against the Padres, Anderson is 2-1 with a 3.86 ERA.

Fellow right-hander Tyson Ross (1-3) will be the opponent.

Ross earned his lone win of the season on April 12 against the Giants after he pitched six innings, allowing three runs on five hits with five strikeouts. He’s lost each of his last three outings, however.

When facing the D-backs, Ross owns a lifetime 2-3 record with a 3.00 ERA in nine appearances, including eight starts.