Clayton Richard didn’t have command of the strike zone, but with Arizona in town, it didn’t matter. The Padres have command over the Diamondbacks.
Richard overcame a season-high tying five walks to work six shutout innings in San Diego’s 16th shutout win of the season, a 5-0 victory over Arizona to open a six-game homestand at Petco Park. The Padres are now a perfect 7-0 against the D’Backs at home this season.
“I was able to throw just enough strikes to keep them off balance,” said Richard (12-5), who won his career-best fifth straight decision, “I mixed things up and really trusted my defense.”
Striking out eight over six shutout frames, Richard was backed by his outfield in more ways than one. Will Venable and Chris Denorfia each launched two-run homers to pace the offense. Venable made a diving grab to his left early in the game, while Denorfia ran down a pair of balls deep in the right-center field alley.
“To do my job and contribute in the way I’m capable of is huge,” said Venable, who hit his 11th homer and drove in his 44th and 45th runs of the year, “with all the inconsistency I’ve had, it’s nice to contribute.”
Venable extended his hitting streak to a career-best seven games (9-for-25, .360).
Former Padre Rodrigo Lopez took the mound for the Diamondbacks, continuing a beleaguered season in which he’s served up homers like a Pez dispenser serves chalky candies.
Lopez dropped to 0-5 with a 6.90 ERA in his past eight starts. He’s 0-3 with a 5.92 ERA and 10 homers allowed in 24.1 innings of work against the Padres lifetime.
After making a diving catch to rob Miguel Montero and end the top of the 2nd, Venable batted in the bottom of the inning with one away and Chase Headley (1-for-4, six game hit streak) at second base. A 2-0 slider from Lopez hung in the zone and Venable spun on it for a deep homer to right field.
“I like the slider and he left one out over the plate. I was able to take a good swing on it.”
In the fourth, center fielder Chris Denorfia proved once again why you don’t want to sneak a fastball past him. After Venable worked a two-out walk in a quality at-bat, Denorfia sat dead red and launched a chest-high Lopez offering into the second deck in left field for his 9th homer of the year.
Denorfia has batted .404 with 3 homers and 10 RBI over his past 15 games. The chief of the Snake charmers, he’s 7-for-11 with four of his homers in five games against Arizona.
Ryan Ludwick singled home Miguel Tejada in the fifth for the game’s final run. Tejada continued to use an all-fields, line drive approach to great effect, picking up two more hits in four at-bats. He’s hitting .286 as a Padre and has reached in 18 of 21 games with San Diego.
The Padres matched their 2010 win total with their 75th victory of the season. San Diego was 75-87 last year. In ESPN’s 2010 baseball season preview, they ran 100 computer simulations of the season and the Padres won 0 of 100 times, finishing with an average of 72 wins.
Now, San Diego maintains a 5 1/2 game lead in the NL West heading into the season’s final month. What does this milestone win to manager Bud Black?
“We’ll go for win number 76 tomorrow,” said Mr. Freeze, “I don’t think about those things.”
NOTES: Black would not rule out a possible return for center fielder Tony Gwynn prior to the end of the season…Gwynn broke the hamate bone in his right hand last week…Wade LeBlanc battles former Angel Joe Saunders on Wednesday night at 7:05 in the second game of the series…attendance was 20,075.
Ernie Martinez locker room and video coverage for this story.
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