SAN DIEGO (AP) - Starling Marté and Stephen Vogt homered off Chris Paddack in the sixth inning, and the Arizona Diamondbacks beat the San Diego Padres 3-2 on Saturday night.
The Padres failed to capitalize on two more home runs by Fernando Tatis Jr., including his second leadoff homer in as many nights. The 21-year-old star shortstop has seven homers this year and has reached base in all 15 games, the longest streak of his career.
Tatis’ second homer, off Héctor Rondón in the eighth, pulled the Padres to 3-2.
All the excitement of Tatis’ leadoff drive off Merrill Kelly (2-1) disappeared by the fourth inning, when Vogt’s sacrifice fly brought in Marté, who hit a leadoff double and advanced on a groundout.
Marté sent a charge through the Diamondbacks dugout in the sixth when he hit a go-ahead homer off the side of the Western Metal Supply Co. Building in the left-field corner. The Diamondbacks’ cheers could be heard all around empty Petco Park.
Paddack “started off very well with his changeup but by the time we got to the second time through the lineup were were able to get him and get some good pitches to hit,” Marté said through an interpreter.
With two outs, Vogt drove a ball into the home run porch down the right field line to chase Paddack (2-1). They were the first for both Marté and Vogt.
Kelly allowed six hits in six innings, struck out four and walked none. Paddack permitted five hits in 5 2/3 innings, struck out six and walked two.
Kelly got out of a big jam int he third when the Padres had runners on the corners and no outs. He struck out Trent Grisham and then got Manny Machado to ground into a double play.
“Anytime you’ve got first and third and no out you want to go for the punchout,” said Vogt, the catcher. “He made an absolutely nasty pitch to get the strikeout, which was huge. … You’re facing the 2-3-4 of that lineup with first and third and nobody out and you’re happy if you get out of there with one run. That’s got to be the mentality. But he didn’t want that. He wanted no runs, and he made the pitches when he needed to to get us out of it.”
Archie Bradley pitched the ninth for his third save.
Tatis homered to left-center on Kelly’s second pitch. On Friday night, he homered on the first pitch from Luke Weaver.
Tatis has eight career leadoff homers, second in franchise history to Will Venable’s 10. It was the third time he hit leadoff homers in consecutive games. The last was exactly a year ago, on Aug. 7 and 8, 2019.
“There is nothing special about those dates, but they told me that at the end of the game and I was surprised. It’s crazy how this world works sometimes, and it’s just funny,” Tatis said.
He said his leadoff approach is to be “ready for my fastball every time. If they hang it, I just have to put a good swing on it every time. This game is about approach. Their approach to me and my approach to them.”
He said he’s “just trying to see the ball a little bit more and trying to be a hitter, instead of just going out there and trying to ambush something. Trying to hit the ball to every part of the park.”
He has an extra-base hit in six straight games.
Rookie manager Jayce Tingler said he likes having Tatis batting leadoff, “just knowing that he’s going to get the most at-bats on the night right now. He’s got a pretty good approach. With that said, are we looking at some things now? Absolutely. But he’s in a pretty good groove right now and I’d love to see him stay locked in.”
TRAINER’S ROOM
Padres: Activated 1B Eric Hosmer from the 10-day injured list. He had been sidelined by gastritis. To make room on the roster, the Padres optioned OF Abraham Almonte to their alternate site.
ODD E-5
Padres third baseman Manny Machado committed an error in shallow right field when he let Vogt’s grounder go under his glove during a shift in the second inning. Machado almost always makes the long jog over to right when the Padres put on a shift against a left-handed hitter.
UP NEXT
Diamondbacks: LHP Madison Bumgarner (0-2, 7.04 ERA) is scheduled to start Sunday’s series finale, looking for his first win since Aug. 30 vs. the Padres and first on the road since July 28, 2019, at Petco Park. He lost his Diamondbacks debut here on opening day, 7-2.
Padres: RHP Dinelson Lamet (1-0, 1.72 ERA) beat the Diamondbacks at home on July 25 in his season debut. He has allowed one earned run in each of his three outings.
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