If the Padres thought jettisoning Andy Green would be like flipping a switch and immediately putting the club on a winning track ... that did not happen.
It certainly was not the blowout we saw on Friday night (a 9-0 loss that really sealed Green's fate) but the Friars fell 4-2 to the Diamondbacks at Petco Park in the Major League managerial debut of Rod Barajas, who is taking over on an interim basis for the final week of the season.
There were some good things, though. After a string of awful outings rookie starting pitcher Cal Quantrill looked much better. Quantrill went 5.0 innings, allowing just one run on two hits with six strikeouts. But he was pulled after throwing just 60 pitches, the kind of curious move we saw quite a bit of from Green.
After Quantrill left Matt Strahm gave up one run and Michel Baez coughed up two more and with the way the Padres have been swinging the bats that was plenty.
Hunter Renfroe hit a solo home run in the 5th inning that briefly tied the game 1-1 but other than that the Padres mustered just 4 hits, all singles. They got their other run on an RBI single by Eric Hosmer in the 8th inning.
The Padres have lost nine of their last 10 games and scored a grand total of seven runs in their last six outings. They need to win on Sunday to avoid a sweep by Arizona. Garrett Richards will take the mound against Arizona starter Robbie Ray.
