Arizona Diamondbacks Stay Classy in San Diego
By Jesse Borek
Mandatory Credit: Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports
It took the unlikeliest of venues for the Arizona Diamondbacks bats to come alive as they held on for a 4-3 victory over the San Diego Padres.
Hammering out 14 hits in the most dramatic hitters’ park in the sport seems curious. On the hill for the Padres was the former Diamondback himself, Ian Kennedy. He was no fooling no one in that D-backs batting order on Saturday night.
Miguel Montero got the D-backs on the board early with a mammoth shot to the deepest part of the ballpark in right centerfield. Clobbering it into the sand box they have strategically placed beyond the wall, Miggy quite literally sent it amongst the children to give the D-backs a 1-0 lead.
The hit barrage continued as Chris Owings and Alfredo Marte went for back-to-back doubles, with the latter being Marte’s first hit of the season. A convoluted outfield situation just became all the more strenuous.
Neither Owings nor Marte slowed down for the night, with each driving in one of the remaining runs for the D-backs. Owings sent Arizona ahead 3-0 in the sixth and Marte got his second RBI in the seventh to extend the lead to 4-0.
Testing the limits of the ballpark, Paul Goldschmidt tried to take a pitch right back out through centerfield in the top of the fifth. With Cameron Maybin’s dynamic blend of speed and athletic ability, he eased back to the fence and leaped up and over to take away a blast from Goldschmidt. Lucky for Maybin, the game took place in San Diego, and not Arizona, as it seems it would be quite difficult for anyone but Spider-Man to scale that centerfield wall.
Even with the previously dormant offense coming to a peak, the story of the game was still Brandon McCarthy.
Picking up his first win of 2014, McCarthy went seven strong not allowing a run to cross the plate. Consistently sitting in the mid-90s, McCarthy struck out six on the afternoon amidst just three hits allowed and a single walk. After only 88 pitches, he headed to the showers in favor of the shakiest bullpen in league.
In roundabout fashion, the quartet of Joe Thatcher, J.J. Putz, Brad Ziegler and Addison Reed got out of dodge with the win…barely. They allowed six hits and three runs in just two innings in front of the nearly capacity crowd at Petco Park.
Even after Reed served up a two-run home run to Padres second baseman Jedd Gyorko, he allowed a double and a walk, before finally getting the final out of the contest on a well-hit ball to right.
It did not come easy, but the Diamondbacks are on yet another vaunted “winning streak.”
They will go for the sweep on Sunday with their ace taking the hill in Wade Miley. The Padres counter with Tyson Ross, who possesses a deadly sweeping slider. Getting underway at 1:10 p.m., the D-backs look to keep the good times rolling.