Josh Naylor homered, Zac Gallen pitched six strong innings and the visiting Arizona Diamondbacks spoiled a milestone night for San Diego Padres third baseman Manny Machado with a 6-3 win on Monday.
Machado became the 297th player in MLB history to reach 2,000 career hits with a leadoff single in the bottom of the fourth inning. He finished with three hits, walloping his 15th homer of the year to start the last of the eighth inning.
But Arizona got a second straight good start from Gallen (7-9), its Opening Day starter who entered the night sporting a 5.45 ERA. Gallen permitted just five hits and an unearned run, walking one and fanning nine.
Yu Darvish (0-1) absorbed the loss in his first start of the year for San Diego. He gave up two runs on three hits and three walks over 3 2/3 innings, striking out five.
Naylor gave the Diamondbacks a 4-1 lead in the fifth inning, cracking a two-run shot over the right-center-field fence against reliever Yuki Matsui. It was Naylor’s 11th homer of the year and just his second against a left-handed pitcher.
The Padres grabbed a 1-0 lead in the first when shortstop Geraldo Perdomo committed the first of his two throwing errors trying to turn a double play on Luis Arraez, allowing Fernando Tatis Jr. to score.
Arizona equalized in the second when Eugenio Suarez rifled a double into the left field corner to score Naylor. The D-backs took the lead for good in the third on a one-out RBI single by Lourdes Gurriel Jr. that scored Corbin Carroll.
Tatis’ groundout to second scored Jake Cronenworth in the seventh, drawing San Diego within 4-2. But the Diamondbacks tallied two insurance runs in the eighth on a two-out RBI triple by Carroll and Perdomo’s run-scoring single.
Kevin Ginkel pitched the ninth to earn his second save of the year for Arizona, inducing a double-play ball from Machado to end it.
Gurriel collected three of Arizona’s nine hits.
–Field Level Media
