PHOENIX – An explosive, five-run third inning and a career night at the plate for both Josh Rojas and Carson Kelly powered the Arizona Diamondbacks to a 12-3 win over the San Diego Padres at Chase Field on Thursday.
Rojas tied a career-high with four hits, going 4-for-5 with a walk, two RBI and two runs scored while Carson Kelly achieved a new career-high with four hits, going 4-for-5 as well with two RBI and a run scored.
Pavin Smith also chipped in with a three-hit night and four RBI. The trio combined for 11 hits total, eight RBI and four runs scored.
“You get it up at the top and they’re all bunched together, it just seemed like every time the right guy was in the right spot,” manager Torey Lovullo said on their offensive output.
“It’s a lot of hits. 11 hits between three guys, so those are special days, and they were grouped together, bunched together, and it led to some big innings and a big offensive day.”
After finding themselves down 2-0 after the first, the D-backs had their work cut out for them against Padres starting pitcher Yu Darvish. But they were able to string together some consecutive hits in the third inning and put a crooked number on the scoreboard.
With two on and one out in the inning, Pavin Smith doubled, scoring two runs to tie the game. It was followed by an RBI single from Kelly that gave Arizona the lead.
David Peralta continues to get regain the pop in his bat as he made a good inning at the dish a great one with a two-run dinger that put the D-backs up by three, ending Darvish’s night after 2.2 innings pitched.
The Padres disclosed later that Darvish was removed due to lower back tightness.
“Tonight, he wasn’t commanding his fastball very well,” Rojas said on what was working so well against Darvish.
“I think everybody kinda had their own little way they were going to attack him, but for a majority for the most part the plan was to sit on that slider/cutter, sit soft, and make him get his heater in there for a strike. Today he wasn’t really locating that heater very well, so we were able to be pretty aggressive to those cutter/sliders.”
Smith and Kelly struck again in the following inning with a single and a double that scored three more runs and gave Arizona a significant lead over their NL West rival.
Rojas added a two-RBI single in the seventh.
“Just a really good effort all the way around by the entire team,” Lovullo added.
After scheduled starter Taylor Widener was scratched due to illness and placed on the injured list prior to the game, pitcher Matt Peacock got the call for the D-backs on the mound.
Peacock gave up a pair of runs in the first and was pulled for Caleb Smith out of the bullpen after 1.1 innings pitched. He gave up three hits and two earned runs with a pair of strikeouts.
Smith, who was recently moved to the pen from the starting rotation, immediately stopped the Padres offensively and put zeros up inning after inning.
Considering the circumstances, Smith gave Lovullo exactly what he needed on the mound in a game that could have really taxed the bullpen had he not been able to give them the long outing.
Smith was essentially the starter in this one, lasting 5.1 innings in relief for his fourth win of the year. He allowed four hits, one run (unearned), five strikeouts and one walk.
“I can’t say enough of what he did,” Lovullo said on Smith’s outing.
“He came in and took us all the way deep into the ballgame. We had some unfortunate news that we had to deal with, and the guys made some adjustments and picked one another up. And Caleb was at the top of the list for giving us what he did and allowing us to win this baseball game.
“He was pounding the zone and he gave us a chance to get that lead, keep extending that lead, and without him today it wouldn’t have been the type of game that we had.”
UP NEXT
Madison Bumgarner will get the start in game two against Blake Snell and the Padres. First pitch is scheduled for 6:40 p.m. with pregame coverage beginning 40 minutes earlier on 98.7 FM Arizona’s Sports Station.
MadBum is back on track as of late, going 2-2 in his last five starts with a 1.97 ERA. He has pitched 7.0-plus innings in three consecutive starts for the first time since July 2019.
