Diamondbacks Crush Padres With Offensive Onslaught

The Diamondbacks’ offense had been stuck in neutral in their past nine games. Since scoring 14 runs on April 23rd, they have scored a total of just 16 runs in their last nine games. They broke out of that funk crushing the San Diego Padres 11-4 at Chase Field to salvage the series finale.

The Diamondbacks wasted no time establishing a lead in this ballgame, scoring four runs in the first off Matt Waldron. Two batters in, Ketel Marte crushed a long home run to right, driving in the same number of runs the team had scored in their past three games. Corbin Carroll added a two-out, two-run single. That inning set the tone for how the game would go for the Diamondbacks offensively, as all nine starters recorded at least one hit.

“It was good to have a complete win there,” said Jake McCarthy, who finished the game 3-for-4 with a double, two RBI, and three runs scored. “Nelly gave us a shot, we had really good at-bats throughout the game, and played some really good defense.”

The early run support was huge for Ryne Nelson, who was activated from the injured list before the game. He was under constant duress from a very tough Padres lineup that banged out eight hits and four runs against the right-hander, but he made the pitches when he needed to preserve the lead. The Padres crept back into the game with three two-out runs in the second and threatened to put up a crooked number in the third, but Nelson induced a double play ball from Manny Machado to limit the damage to one run. That was the last great scoring opportunity that San Diego had for the day.

“Happy to be back, happy to get out back there with the guys, and get a win with them today,” said Nelson. “Just a couple of pitches, a couple of things I could go back and change, but a good win for the team.”

Nelson said his stuff felt as good as where it was before he got injured, but acknowledged command of his 95 MPH fastball could have been better in his start. As the Diamondbacks blew the game open in the middle innings, he finished with two consecutive zeroes to punctuate his outing and pick up his second win of the season. Nelson said those two zeros were big, and “it’s never good to give up when we’re scoring and you go out there and give up a couple runs”.

Justin Martinez, Joe Mantiply, Ryan Thompson, and Kevin Ginkel each pitched a scoreless inning out of the bullpen. With the team struggling to score and constantly behind in games, it was an opportunity to get their top relievers some much-needed work to stay sharp.

The Diamondbacks will be traveling to Cincinnati to start a six-game road trip, with reinforcements potentially coming. Paul Sewald and Alek Thomas are set to be activated from the injured list on Tuesday. Zac Gallen, who’s been pushed back as the team tries to navigate a hamstring issue with their ace, is set to get back on the mound for Arizona. Cincinnati has not announced a starter at the time of this writing. First pitch at Great American Ballpark will be at 3:40 PM MST.

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