We’ve grown accustomed to seeing the Padres hit, maybe, four home runs in one week so what went down in Arizona on Friday night was kind of like stumbling across a yeti.
The Friars offense erupted for four homers at Chase Field in a 10-3 blowout of the Diamondbacks. San Diego is 20-20, an even .500 on the season. Well, they are as long as you don’t count their games against the Giants. Overall the Friars are 20-29.
Padres switch-hitting 3rd baseman Yangervis Solarte paced the attack with a pair of home runs, one from each side of the plate. It took a few games for him to find his stroke after a stint on the disabled list but over the last three games Solarte has five hits, including three homers and a double, and has driven in six.
Solarte’s first blast came in the 5th inning and it was not alone. His shot was turned in to a Solarte home run sandwich. Matt Kemp hit one right in front of him and three batters later Derek Norris also went big fly. Kemp and Norris have struggled mightily in May but both had multi-hit games in Phoenix.
In all 10 different players got a knock in the Padres 18-hit attack, including starting pitcher Christian Friedrich. He didn’t need to be good with the bat because he was really good with his arm. Friedrich threw 7.0 innings, allowing no runs on three hits and punching out five.
The Padres snapped their four game losing skid and can start a winning streak on Saturday night when Cesar Vargas takes the mound against Zack Greinke.
