San Diego never let Arizona back into it. The Padres scored early, scored again in the third, and kept adding through the seventh, while their bullpen made sure none of it mattered once the lead was in hand. The result: a 5-1 win that never felt as close as the final score suggests.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SD | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 12 | 0 |
| ARI | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 0 |
Walker Buehler started for San Diego and worked 4.0 innings, allowing 1 run on 6 hits with 3 strikeouts, leaving with the lead already secure. Behind him, the Padres bullpen was the story that mattered most: four relievers combined for 5.0 innings without allowing a run. Bradgley Rodriguez, who followed Buehler, pitched 2.0 scoreless innings with no hits allowed and picked up the win, improving to 3-2 with a 2.29 ERA.
The Padres opened the scoring in the first when Machado grounded into a double play, with Tatis Jr. scoring on the play to make it 1-0 -- a play that gave San Diego a lead it never surrendered. They added to it in the third: Machado grounded out to shortstop to bring home Cronenworth, and Ty France followed with a sacrifice fly to right that scored Tatis Jr., pushing the margin to 3-0. Arizona answered in the bottom of the third when Moreno singled to right and Carroll scored, cutting the deficit to 3-1, but that was as close as the Diamondbacks would get. San Diego tacked on more in the sixth, when Fermin singled to center to score Merrill, and again in the seventh, when Merrill singled to right to bring home Machado.
Kohl Drake took the loss for Arizona, his first of the season. He lasted 3.2 innings, allowing 3 runs on 6 hits with 1 strikeout and a walk, and the Diamondbacks bullpen that followed gave up 2 more runs across 5.1 innings. Gabriel Moreno had a strong night at the plate for Arizona, going 3-for-4 with a double and an RBI, and Corbin Carroll added a double of his own, but the Diamondbacks could not string together enough to climb back.
Carroll entered the game sitting at 98 career home runs, two shy of the 100 mark, and did not add to that total Wednesday. San Diego improved to 60-56 with the win, snapping a stretch that had them searching for momentum, while Arizona fell to 61-55.