Sedona Red Recap: D-backs drop fourth straight after Padres erupt for 10 runs

Friday began with the Arizona Diamondbacks making a lot of moves. Unfortunately, the day ended with Chip Hale and his group watching the San Diego Padres make a lot of moves around the basepaths.

Yangervis Solarte homered from different sides of the plate in consecutive innings and Matt Kemp and Derek Norris also went deep. Christian Friedrich delivered seven strong innings for San Diego as well and the Padres hammered the D-backs by a final of 10-3 in front of 24,935 at Chase Field.

Arizona starter Robbie Ray survived the first four innings of the game, striking out eight San Diego hitters while holding the Padres to just two runs. The problem is, the Diamondbacks weren’t scoring at all – and they didn’t, until the eighth inning.

This one was long done by then though. San Diego picked up four runs on three homers in the fifth, then tacked on another quartet in the sixth to blow the game wide open. With the loss, Arizona has dropped four in a row — and currently sits nine games back of first in the NL West.

THE GOOD

-Ray did fan eight batters over the 4.2 innings he pitched. And he struck out the side in the second inning.

-Brandon Drury launched a two-run shot over the left-center wall in the eighth to give the D-backs their first runs of the game. For Drury, it was his eighth home run of the season, pulling him into a tie with Paul Goldschmidt for first on the team.

-Jake Lamb set a new career high by hitting his seventh homer of the year in the bottom of the ninth inning.

THE BAD

-Ray looked decent at times, but once again failed to go deep into a game. He’s only gone longer than 6.1 innings in one of his 10 starts this season, and has lasted longer than 5.1 innings just once in his last seven games.

-On the bright side, Arizona’s bullpen was at least relatively rested coming into this one. But they struggled to get through the second half of the evening, surrendering five earned runs over 4.1 innings.

Josh Collmenter, in particular, had a rough night in his belated season debut. When the dust settled, he had yielded four earned runs over just 0.1 innings of work.

STAT OF THE GAME

43: The number of games between tonight’s contest and the last time San Diego managed to post double-digit runs in a game (April 9, at Coors Field). The Padres entered play on Friday with more runs than only two Major League clubs this season.

HE SAID IT

“I felt good coming out of the bullpen before the start. I felt strong with all my pitches and I was able to get out of some jams there, but I just left a few pitches up and they made me pay for it. It’s just frustrating because I know I’m better than that.” – Robbie Ray

NOTED

– Prior to the game, Arizona reinstated Collmenter from the disabled list, and recalled Silvino Bracho, Dominic Leone and Peter O’Brien from Triple-A Reno.

-That was only half of the roster moves that the Diamondbacks made though. They also put Rubby De La Rosa and Shelby Miller on the DL, and optioned Andrew Chafin and Evan Marshall to Reno.

UP NEXT

The Diamondbacks will look to bounce back with a better effort against the Padres on Saturday night. Zack Greinke will take the mound for Arizona, while San Diego counters with Cesar Vargas. First pitch is set for 7:10 p.m., with pregame coverage beginning at 6:30 p.m. on Arizona Sports 98.7 FM.

Greinke (5-3) delivered arguably his best performance as a D-back in his last outing, scattering five hits and one earned run over 8.0 innings in a 7-2 win over the Cardinals on May 22. He’s now won five of his last six decisions this season, and is 6-1 with a 1.64 ERA and 0.81 WHIP in 13 career meetings with San Diego.

Vargas (0-2) is coming off the longest appearance of his Major League career – a seven inning effort, in which he allowed just two runs against the Dodgers on May 21. For the year, he has a 3.34 ERA and 1.48 WHIP. This will be his first ever matchup with the Diamondbacks.

Follow @LukeLapinski