San Diego Padres defeat Arizona Diamondbacks 3-1 to seal series – MLB Update
The San Diego Padres held the Arizona Diamondbacks back for the second consecutive day, defeating them 3-1 to seal the three-game series on Saturday, September 17 at Petco Park in San Diego with the third game yet to play.
Diamondbacks have resurged after a horrendous first-half to topple reigning World Champions San Francisco Giants in the second-half, but the Padres have no engulfed their way to seal the National League West title, for the time being at least.
With postseason a certainty for Arizona, two consecutive losses will surely dent the confidence of the team, which has defied all odds to prevail in the NL West. This loss extended their losing-streak to three, the longest since August 22.
Manager Kirk Gibson cited this as a routine matter and said, "We've been through these streaks before. Nobody likes them. We fixed them before. We need to get after it. It's disappointing. But we have nobody to blame but ourselves -- and we're the people
who can fix it as well and we will."
Aaron Hill gave the visitors a perfect start with a home-run upfront but Wade LeBlanc was quick to recover from this hit, pitching five scoreless innings thereafter to win his fourth start of the season. D-backs had no answer to LeBlanc’s gallantry as he
employed his entire armoury to silence the strong batting line-up.
LeBlanc was well supported by Luke Gregerson, Chad Qualls and Heath Bell, all of whom pitched a perfect inning each to guide the Padres through. Bell saved his 39th game of the season and appreciated the work of the bull-pen, commenting that the
starters have finally picked form and the pitching outfit is now doing what it should have been from the onset.
Orlando Hudson starred for the Padres with the bat, first scoring the equaliser in the second inning before unleashing his arms in the fourth inning to give San Diego a one-run lead with a home-run towards right-flank.
Jeremy Hermida replicated Hudson’s effort in the seventh inning to double the lead for the home side and hand Josh Collmenter his tenth loss this season.
Collmenter has been decent this season but a battering by the Padres just before the playoffs should serve as an eye-opener for Arizona’s starter, who is likely to lead the bull-pen in the postseason. However, Collmenter denied such claims and articulated
that this will not act as a hurdle in the team’s preparation for the next stage.
Collmenter leaked eight hits and three runs in his spell of seven innings to see his earned-run average surge to 3.42 for the season. Brad Ziegler showed versatility in his sole inning from the mound and it will be interesting to see his role in the postseason
for D-backs.
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