Matt Carpenter did what he was brought to do for the San Diego Padres on Sunday. Rake.

He stepped to the plate four times, and in all four at-bats, he brought home a run, totaling five runs batted in on a sacrifice fly, two doubles, and a solo home run.

San Diego needed all five RBIs in the 7-5 win to win the four-game series against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field. The win moves the Padres, winners in four of their last five games, to .500 and within a half-game of first place in the National League West.

The Stache getting things going early!#BringTheGold pic.twitter.com/KsMjbuwzSC

— San Diego Padres (@Padres) April 23, 2023

Yu Darvish made his fourth start of the season, and for the fourth time, he gave them a chance to win the game. His ERA sits flat at three despite walking five Diamondbacks. Darvish needed one more out to get through six innings, but with runners at second and third, Darvish grimaced after a 2-0 pitch, so Padres manager Bob Melvin removed him from the game. Per Melvin, this injury seems to be not too concerning.

Right hamstring cramp for Yu Darvish, Bob Melvin says. Darvish is expected to make his next start.

— AJ Cassavell (@AJCassavell) April 23, 2023

Jake Cronenworth drove home the other two runs for the Padres in the contest. Following the insurance run he drove in Saturday night, this marks the second time this season Cronenworth got an RBI in back-to-back games, dating back to the first two games of the 18-straight contest stretch, book-ending that for him. Cronenworth started the scoring with a sacrifice fly in the top of the first before adding the ultimately game-deciding RBI with a double in the seventh inning in a left-on-left matchup, just like Saturday. Additionally, Cronenworth hit the first triple of the Padres’ season before scoring on Carpenter’s sacrifice fly.

Josh Hader recorded his third save of the series and dominated per usual. He faced nine batters at Chase Field this week and retired every one of them. Hader now has eight saves and a 0.82 ERA.

“[Hader] lives locked in,” Melvin said.

The path to Hader was dicey, however. After Carpenter doubled home Cronenworth, San Diego led 7-1 going into the seventh inning stretch. Brent Honeywell, who stranded the bases loaded for Darvish in the sixth, allowed back-to-back home runs to begin the seventh inning. Then, Tim Hill entered in the eighth inning after pitching a scoreless inning on Saturday. He, too, surrendered two runs, and the lead dwindled to just two runs.

Now, San Diego gets a much-needed day off after 18 consecutive games, including a trip from New York back to Petco Park. They return to action at Wrigley Field against the Chicago Cubs with Blake Snell, whom the Padres are yet to win with this season, on the bump.

Dominic Stearn

Dominic is a graduate of Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication, with a bachelor’s degree in Sports Journalism. He also  is the producer and co-host of the “Padres EVT Podcast.”