The Padres & Diamondbacks met for the last of three games in the desert, with the Padres aiming for a sweep.

Arizona, however, came out swinging early against Padres’ starter Matt Waldron, with a two-run home run by Ketel Marte setting the tone for the game early.

Arizona would get two more runs in the first on an RBI single by a slumping Corbin Carroll, making the score 4-0. The Padres, however, did not just roll over. Xander Bogaerts would hit a leadoff single, and Jackson Merrill hit a 101-mile-per-hour drive to right field for his second home run of the season. Kyle Higashioka would double in Ha-Seong Kim to make it a one-run game in the second, but that would be as close as the game would get.

Waldron had struggled with his command early on, and these struggles would define his outing.

In the second inning, he would walk Tucker Barnhart and uncork a wild pitch to move the runner up. Jake McCarthy would hit a seeing-eye single past the infield to bring in the run and would himself score on a double by Christian Walker off a middle-middle fastball from Waldron.

Manny Machado would make it a 6-4 game on a double play ball that would score Fernando Tatis Jr, but this closeness on the scoreboard would once again be gone. In the bottom of the fourth inning, Barnhart and McCarthy would hit back-to-back doubles to chase Waldron from the game. Jhony Brito would enter in relief and record two outs before a hot shot to third would drive in the eighth run of the game for Arizona. Longtime Padre rival Joc Pederson would then homer to right field off Brito to make it a 10-4 game, driving in the proverbial nail in the coffin, if you will.

Arizona starter Ryne Nelson would navigate through nine baserunners over five innings to record the win, giving up four runs on eight hits.

The Diamondbacks bullpen, which had been pummeled through the first two games of the series, turned in a solid effort with four shutout frames in relief. By comparison, outside of the rough fourth inning, the Padres’ bullpen would set down the final eleven men to come to plate after the fifth inning. Three consecutive singles off Brito would drive in the Snakes’ final run to make the score 11-4, but Brito would escape the inning thanks to a flyout and double play ball. The D-Backs’ bullpen stymied any chance of a Padres’ comeback, and their four-game win streak came to an end.

Pitching Quandaries?

The Padres announced before the game that starting pitcher Joe Musgrove was placed on the 15-day injured list due to “right elbow inflammation,” which was later reported to be triceps tendinitis.

Randy Vasquez was called up to take his roster spot and likely his upcoming start in Chicago. However, with this latest outing from Waldron, it begs the question of whether the Padres may need to replace him in the rotation as well.

Jackson Wolf threw for the Padres’ Triple-A affiliate today, tossing six innings of one-run ball. So, do the Padres look internally to replace their fifth starter?

The Padres return to action on Monday against the Cubs from the friendly confines of Wrigley Field. First pitch is scheduled for 4:40 pm Pacific Time.

Diego Garcia

A born and raised San Diegan, Diego Garcia is a lifetime Padres fan and self-proclaimed baseball nerd. Diego wrote about baseball on his own site between 2021-22 before joining the East Village Times team in 2024. He also posts baseball content on his YouTube channel “Stat Nerd Baseball”, creating content around trades, hypotheticals, player analyses, the San Diego Padres, and MLB as a whole.

A 2024 graduate of San Diego State, Diego aims to grow as a writer and content creator in the baseball community.