Yu Darvish retired the first 13 hitters he faced and Manny Machado hit a two-run home run in the first inning Sunday as the visiting San Diego Padres scored a 6-1 win over the host Arizona Diamondbacks.
The Padres (81-66) finished the season series with three straight wins against the Diamondbacks and a 14-5 mark against Arizona (68-78). Sunday’s win also moved the Padres past Philadelphia into second in the National League wild card race and widened their edge over Milwaukee to 2 1/2 games.
Darvish improved to 15-7. He allowed one hit and one walk with eight strikeouts over six innings. Robert Suarez and Adrian Morejon finished the game.
The right-handed Darvish survived a scare after pitching a perfect game for 4 1/3 innings. Ketel Marte drew a one-out walk, although the last three pitches called balls by plate umpire Alex MacKay appeared to be strikes. Corbin Carroll followed with a single for Arizona’s first hit. After Alek Thomas flew out to left, Cooper Hummel sent a grounder back to Darvish that rolled between the pitcher’s legs for a bases-loading error.
Darvish escaped the inning by striking out Geraldo Perdomo in a nine-pitch battle.
Juan Soto drew a one-out walk in the first ahead of Machado’s 29th homer, a 394-foot drive into the left-field stands. The Padres made it 3-0 in the third on Jurickson Profar’s single, a two-base error on a pick-off attempt and Brandon Drury’s sacrifice fly. Soto made it 4-0 on his 25th homer in the fifth, the first of his three hits.
Diamondbacks starter Ryne Nelson (1-1) allowed four runs (three earned) on three hits and four walks with three strikeouts in 5 1/3 innings. Machado’s homer ended Nelson’s run of 13 straight scoreless innings to start his major league career.
The Padres scored single runs in the final two innings against former Padres pitchers. They made it 5-0 in the eighth on a sacrifice fly by Jake Cronenworth off Ian Kennedy. A lead-off single by Austin Nola, an error and an RBI double by Soto off Mark Melancon made it 6-0 in the top of the ninth.
The Diamondbacks averted a second straight shutout by scoring on Marte’s one-out sacrifice fly in the ninth. Daulton Varsho had singled to open the inning off Morejon and moved to third on Christian Walker’s double.
Arizona had four hits Sunday after getting five Saturday.
–Field Level Media
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