PHOENIX (AP) - Up six runs and trying to end their longest losing streak since late June-early July, Arizona Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo wanted to make sure a win was in the bag.
So Lovullo, after starter Robbie Ray pitched 6 1-3 scoreless innings, had his top two setup man work an inning each to close out the San Diego Padres 6-0 Tuesday night.
“It didn’t make a lot of sense, I know it was 6-0,” Lovullo said. “We needed to win this game, and those are the guys that have been doing it all year long, and I just felt the importance of winning right now.”
Ray struck out 10 and pitched two-hit ball as the Diamondbacks ended a four-game losing streak.
The Diamondbacks’ skid had knocked them out of the NL West lead.
Ray (5-2) got his first win at Chase Field since March 30, his first game of 2018 - he’d been 0-1 in his previous six starts at home. He won back-to-back starts for the first time since last September and is 5-0 in his last eight starts against the Padres.
“It was huge to come out today and get the win,” Ray said. “My fastball command was about as good as it’s been all year.
“It just feels effortless. Every pitch has a purpose,” Ray added.
Joey Lucchesi (7-8) gave up two runs and three hits in five innings. He’s winless in five career starts against Arizona.
Nick Ahmed hit an RBI triple and scored on Ketel Marte’s sacrifice fly for a 2-0 lead in the second.
“I left one fastball in the middle for Ahmed, which allowed the triple,” Lucchesi said. “After that I told myself calm down. I made an adjustment and kept it to two runs the rest of the game.”
Ray hasn’t been consistently sharp this season, but he cruised through the first four innings without allowing a runner and striking out seven. Ray got help from a diving catch in center field by A.J. Pollock, which took a hit away from Luis Urias.
The Padres got their first hit of the game, a single from Franmil Reyes, with two outs in the fifth. They had runners on the corners in the sixth with two outs, but Ray struck out Hunter Renfroe to end the inning.
Marte manufactured a run on his own after infield single in the Diamondbacks’ four-run seventh. Reliever Robert Stock threw wildly on a pickoff attempt to allow Marte to get to second base, and Marte stole third. He scored on a passed ball, and pinch-hitter Daniel Descalso had an RBI single.
“It was nice to push across some more runs and put the game away,” Descalso said. “To bounce back the way we did, very clean game, pitched the ball well, hit the ball well.”
The Diamondbacks got another run when Padres catcher Austin Hedges couldn’t hold on to the ball after tagging Descalso trying to score on Pollock’s sharp single. Paul Goldschmidt added an RBI single.
ISSUE WITH UMP
Padres manager Andy Green came out of the dugout to discuss the call at home involving Descalso and Hedges, who was charged with a missed catch error. But before he could ask for a replay review, he was told time had run out on him to do so.
The manager felt third base umpire Angel Hernandez, the crew chief, didn’t make a good effort to approach Green to see if he wanted a review.
“The way that works is you signal within 10 seconds, around 30 seconds someone is supposed to walk to your dugout and say ’We need a decision,” Green said. “Makes no sense on any level but he is offering me some sort of opportunity to hear his voice when music is being played and he is yelling at me across the field. That is not the way it’s supposed to work. I am just looking for a little professionalism and to me that was not that.”
DIAMONDBACKS MOVES
The Diamondbacks recalled INF Ildemaro Vargas from Triple-A Reno and RH reliever Matt Andriese from Single-A Visalia before Tuesday’s game. Andriese had been with the Diamondbacks until Aug. 28 after he was picked up in a trade with Tampa Bay. … Starting pitcher Zack Godley, who worked in Monday’s game, was placed on the paternity list to return home for the birth of his first child.
MEJIA DEBUTS
The Padres called up catcher Francisco Mejia from Triple-A El Paso before Tuesday’s game. Mejia, considered one of San Diego’s top prospects, struck out as pinch-hitter in his San Diego debut.
UP NEXT
Padres: The Padres get Wednesday off. Then LHP Eric Lauer (5-7) faces the Cincinnati in the first game of a four-game series.
Diamondbacks: After a day off Wednesday, RHP Zack Greinke (13-9) opens a four-game series against Atlanta on Thursday.
___
More AP baseball: https://apnews.com/tag/MLBbaseball
Please read our comment policy before commenting.