After being beaten in every way, shape and form for eight games in San Diego, the Arizona Diamondbacks took out all their frustration on Padres pitching Thursday afternoon.
Mark Reynolds hit a homer halfway up the bleachers beyond the beach in right-center field, Stephen Drew continued his torrid series with a homer, double and 3 RBI, and Arizona starter Ian Kennedy struck out a career-high 12 batters in a (final score) beat-down of the Padres at Petco Park.
Kevin Correia (10-9) came into the day with a perfect 3-0 record against Arizona at Petco Park, but he had little to offer in the way of resistance against the Diamondbacks’ attack. Kevin allowed nine earned runs in 3 1/3 innings, the most earned runs allowed by a Padres starter since Justin Germano served up ten against Houston on April 21st, 2008.
“Kevin just couldn’t get on track, he’d have one good pitch and then one not so good,” said manager Bud Black, ”
After a Chris Young RBI single in the first, Correia got into second inning trouble by walking his opposing number. A two-out single by the #8 hitter Gerardo Parra was followed by Correia walking Kennedy. Drew (who had two homers and two doubles on Wednesday) then continued his torrid hitting by flipping a Correia breaking ball over the right-field auxiliary scoreboard for his 11th homer of the year.
“That’s the game right there,” said Correia, who felt he pitched much better than the numbers revealed, “Drew’s a hot hitter but he never should have had the chance to bat there.”
Black agreed.
“Drew’s on fire, he’s the last guy we want to see up in that situation, and he delivered.”
Correia’s struggles continued in the fourth, as four hits and a walk brought an end to his afternoon. Stephen Drew’s double over Chris Denorfia’s head in center field made it 5-0, and a Justin Upton RBI single increased the lead to six.
Kelly Johnson walked to load the bases and chase Correia from the game. Tim Stauffer came on for blowout relief, giving up a three-run double to Young to unload the bases and bump Correia’s ERA up to 5.29.
Stauffer did settle down to work 4 2/3’s innings, the longest relief outing of his career. He struck out six and allowed six hits and two earned runs. The lone major blemish against him was a first-pitch fastball left up the zone to Mark Reynolds, who launched his 28th homer of the year all the way over the beach and halfway up the bleachers beyond right-center field, a 446-foot blast which tied for the 5th longest in Petco Park history.
Meanwhile, Ian Kennedy was dominating the Padres’ hitters with a good riding fastball up in the strike zone. After walking two batters in the first, Kennedy retired 20 of 22 hitters, striking out 11.
Having thrown 105 pitches, Kennedy departed with an 11-0 lead and his 8th win securely in his back pocket. The Arizona bullpen promptly excited the remaining home fans by making a game of it.
Reliever Sam Demel allowed leadoff hits to Chris Denorfia and Nick Hundley, then retired Luis Durango on a chopper to the mound. David Eckstein followed with a hot shot up the middle which Demel fielded behind his back. He smoothly threw home to catch Denorfia in a rundown, but Arizona catcher Miguel Montero’s throw to third base went off Denorfia’s back for a two-base error.
With a run in on the throwaway, Miguel Tejada then walked to load the bases, and Adrian Gonzalez unloaded his 27th homer of the year and 4th career grand slam, a line-drive just to the left of the Petco Porch in right field.
Gonzalez’s 157th career homer as a Padre moved him into sole possession of 2nd place on the all-time franchise list, passing Phil Nevin.
Denorfia gave the team an injury scare in the 9th inning when he had to be helped from the field after sliding into second base, but it turned out to just be a severe cramp in his hamstring. Denorfia was walking around without trouble after the game.
The loss prevented the Padres from gaining ground on idle San Francisco, but San Diego still holds a comfortable six game lead over their NL West rivals. The strength-of-schedule pendulum will swing toward the Giants over the coming weeks, starting with this weekend when Arizona travels to San Francisco while the two-time defending NL champion Phillies come to Petco Park.
“It should be a great test for us,” said Black.
This story will be updated later with a postgame video report.
NOTES: Padres starting pitcher Chris Young threw 55 pitches in a simulated game prior to Thusday’s matinee. Manager Bud Black said the “last 30 were better than the first 25″. Young faced Matt Stairs, Luis Durango and Scott Hairston over three simulated innings, attended by most of the Padres coaching staff and front office, including GM Jed Hoyer…Mat Latos will face Roy Oswalt in the opener of the Padres next series, a weekend showdown against Philadelphia.
Craig Elsten -
Chainsaw -
