His offerings to second base weren’t almost as sharp, though, and that cost San Diego in a 2-1 defeat to Arizona. He walked Clayton Richard in the third inning and then proceeded to retire the next 14 of 16 hitters he faced with eight of those coming from the strikeout. He’s had a history of trouble throwing to bases.
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“Unfortunately not fielding my position cost us”, Richard said. “That definitely stings because you play to win, and to have a couple fielding plays cost you the game, that’s really tough”.
Arizona Diamondbacks’ Chris Owings and Rickie Weeks are congratulated after scoring against the San Diego Padres in the eighth inning of a baseball game Friday, Aug. 19, 2016, in San Diego.
Arizona put runners on base in the 5th and 6th innings and both times Richard got a comebacker that should have been a double play ball.
Richard, 32, will be making his fourth appearance and second start with the Padres since signing for a second tour with the club on August 6 as a free agent.
“His sinker was really, really effective”, Green said. The balls really had bottom to it.
The Arizona Diamondbacks and San Diego Padres end a four-game series Sunday afternoon.
Ray (7-11) featured a fastball in the upper 90s miles per hour. With a career-best 13 strike-out performance, Ray, with help from four relievers, defeated the Padres, 2-1 before 32,599.
“He had that one pitch and he just left it in the middle, but other than that he had a dynamic fastball and he did a wonderful job”, said Diamondbacks manager Chip Hale. “It was mostly fastballs I was throwing and it was just the movement on both sides of the plate”.
The Diamondbacks scored two unearned runs, helped by a pair of throwing errors by pitcher Clayton Richard (0-3). Just trying to get a good pitch to drive, and stay aggressive, and that’s what I did.
“We had a hard time squaring him up”, Green said. “It was impressive. It was a big hit for us, obviously the last one was too”. Brandon Drury grounded into a double play, but that didn’t stop Castillo from reaching home.
Schimpf hit a two-run homer in the eighth off Enrique Burgos that tied the score at 4-4.
“It was pretty surreal”, he said. “I just ran around the bases, kind of floating around second and third”.
NOTES: The Diamondbacks announced Saturday that SS Nick Ahmed will have surgery to remove an impingement in his right hip, ending his 2016 season. He should be fit for spring training. Braden Shipley gets the nod, and he’s 2-2 with a 4.30 ERA and 17 strikeouts this season. Shipley had a rocky outing his last time out on Tuesday, surrendering seven runs (six earned) over five innings to the New York Mets. Luis Perdomo takes the hill, and he’s 5-7 with a 6.68 ERA and 79 strikeouts this season.
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With two wins in the first two games of the series, the Padres have moved two games ahead of the Diamondbacks in the battle to avoid the cellar in the National League West.
