The San Diego Padres are on the road this week. The Friars started their four game series against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field Monday night. Jhoulys Chacin was on the bump for San Diego dueling it out against Diamondbacks righty Zack Grienke.
It wasn’t a great night for Chacin. The right handed pitcher gave up seven runs and eight hits over six innings. He took a major blow in the fifth when Chris Owings crushed a homerun 426 feet into center field with the bases loaded. His first career grand slam gave the Diamondbacks a strong 6-0 lead.
Arizona’s ace had a much better night. Grienke, who took a loss against Chacin and the Padres a week before this meeting, seemed to thrive on his home field. Grienke struck out 11 Padres batters and only allowed one run through six innings. By the time he left the mound, the Diamondbacks had a 7-1 lead.
That was just the break the Padres needed. In the seventh inning the Friars trailed 7-2 when first baseman Wil Myers gave his team a boost! His three run homer scored Erik Aybar and Manny Margot to cut the deficit within two runs.
Catcher Austin Hedges has been on a roll lately, and that continued tonight when his team needed it the most. In the eighth inning Hedges blasted his sixth home run in eight games and the Padres were almost all caught up 7-6.
In the final inning Wil Myers got a visit from his former teammate, closer Fernando Rodney. Unfortunately for Myers, Rodney still had a few more arrows to throw. The righty sent Myers back to the dugout, and one out later the Diamondbacks sealed game one of the series with a 7-6 victory over the Padres.
The four game set continues Tuesday night. First pitch for game two is at 6:40 p.m. PST at Chase Field.
