Joe Saunders shines as Arizona Diamondbacks overpower San Diego Padres 5-1 - MLB Update
Arizona Diamondbacks’ starting pitcher, Joe Saunders had a brilliant day with the ball as he pitched just over eight innings and struck-out three batters with an ERA of 3.66 in the Diamondbacks’ 5-1 victory over the San Diego Padres at Petco Park, San Diego
on September 18.
During the first two innings, the batters were powerless against the curveballs. Justin Upton drove a single-run shot to left-field and Miguel Montero walked but Aaron Hill flied out and Gerardo Parra struck-out without taking runs. Similarly, Padres’ centre-fielder
Cameron Maybin flied out, Jason Bartlett struck-out and Chris Denorfia ground out without any run contribution at the bottom of the first inning.
Chris Young reached to short-stop position on an infield single but got out to second base when Geoff Blum struck a grounder into double play, second to short-stop position and short-stop to first base. John McDonald ground out to first base at the top of
the second inning. Padres posted one run in the third inning to get a 1-0 lead. Maybin added a single run when Bartlett ground out to second base.
In the fourth inning, Diamondbacks scored one run to tie the game 1-1. Montero hit a one-run homer (405 feet) towards centre-field to keep the Diamondbacks alive. Saunders gave away seven hits, one run and two walks on his 103 pitches.
Saunders said, “When you go on a little stretch and you get a little antsy like that, you start to press a little bit. You just need to relax. When you relax, things come easier to you. They didn't try to do to much and we just played our game.”
Diamondbacks went ahead 2-1 in the sixth inning when Paul Goldschmidt struck a solo homer (424 feet) to right-field. During seventh inning, Diamondbacks’ batters added two runs to take a 4-1 lead. Parra contributed one run when Hill drove a single-run shot
to left-field. Later on, Hill occupied third base on the error of Padres’ left-fielder Kyle Blanks.
The second run was taken by Hill when Goldschmidt hit a single-run drive to left-centre and Montero moved to second base to end the seventh inning. Diamondbacks advanced to 5-1 at the top of the ninth inning when Goldschmidt hit a sacrifice fly to right-field
and Upton added the final run.
Despite this convincing victory, Diamondbacks lost the three-game series 2-1 against Padres at San Diego.
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