The San Diego Padres swept the division rival Arizona Diamondbacks in a three-game series.
Most of the games against the rival team were close games, with the exception of the final game. The division-rival Diamondbacks have struggled throughout the year, and they certainly did not rebound in this series.
The first game of the series did not include a lot of hits. In fact, there were only nine hits combined between the two teams. The Padres were only able to muster four total hits. Fortunately, the Padres scored as many runs as they had hits, and the team ended up winning the game 4-1.
Two of the Padres’ hits were solo home runs from center fielder Trent Grisham and second baseman Jake Cronenworth. With the home run, Cronenworth brought his RBI total to 41. This RBI total is good for second on the team, behind third baseman Manny Machado’s 46 RBIs.
Yu Darvish was the starting pitcher for this game, and he pitched quite well. He went seven innings and only allowed one run on four hits. This outing brought his ERA down to 3.17. Closing pitcher Taylor Rogers was able to close out the game by pitching a perfect ninth inning. Rogers also had two strikeouts in the one inning pitched.
The next game was a tight one, and it took 11 innings to determine a winner.
Catcher Jorge Alfaro hit a single to left field in the bottom of the 11th inning. This hit drove in Jose Azocar to give the Padres the extra-innings victory. The Padres won this game with a score of 3-2.
Starting Pitcher Sean Manaea had a solid outing in this game. He pitched in six innings and only gave up two runs on four hits. Manaea also threw six strikeouts. He did struggle a bit with control at certain points in the game, and he gave up three walks because of it. However, the relievers came in and did not give up a single run for the rest of the game.
The next and final game of the series was not even close throughout the entirety of the game. The Padres scored six runs in the first two innings, and the Diamondbacks were unable to make it a close game at any point. The Padres had 10 runs on 16 hits. They did end up committing four errors in this game, but it did not affect anything. The Padres won this game 10-4.
Left fielder Jurickson Profar was one of the main contributors in the lineup.
Profar went 4-for-4 with two RBIs. Jose Azocar also hit well in this game, going 3-for-5 with a home run and two RBIs.
Starting pitcher Mike Clevinger was solid, although he only pitched in four innings. In those four innings, he only gave up one run and had three strikeouts. Nick Martinez closed the game out with a rare multi-inning save. He pitched in 3 ⅔ innings and gave up two runs, with only one of them being earned.
Padres pitching has been excellent this season. The team leads the MLB in quality starts, with 39 total. They are fifth in ERA with a 3.42 ERA, and third in saves with 24 total saves.
The hitting for the Padres this season has been solid this season, but nowhere near as dominant as the pitching has been. The team is 14th in batting average with a .245 average and ninth in on-base percentage with a .322 percentage. However, they are fifth in runs scored with 337 total runs.
The Padres will look to keep rolling in another home series, as they will be facing the Philadelphia Phillies.