MLB

Padres Blow Out Diamondbacks, Win 1st Series of the Year

Friars lose their starting pitcher but offense comes up huge on Sunday in Arizona

Sunday was not supposed to be a bullpen day for the Padres. With the starting rotation depth they accumulated over the off-season they were hoping to avoid those in 2022. They were forced into one in the 4th game of the year, but the relievers and the offense were in lockstep in a dominant 10-5 win over the Diamondbacks in Arizona, the Padres' 3rd straight win.

While warming up for his first start of the season lefty Blake Snell started feeling discomfort in his hip adductor, the same thing that knocked him out of his final start of 2021. He was an extremely late scratch, replaced by long reliever Nabil Crismatt.

As he did so many times a year ago he picked his staff up. Crismatt tossed 3.0 shutout innings to set the tone. Of course, it helps if the offense is putting up big numbers. In the 2nd inning Jake Cronenworth reached on an error by 2nd baseman Ketel Marte. That was the beginning of the end for D-Backs starter Caleb Smith.

Smith walked a pair to load the bases then left one up to Jurickson Profar. The switch-hitter brought Slam Diego's world tour to the desert. Profar ripped his 2nd dinger of the year into the left field seats, a 4-run homer to make it 4-0. A year ago Profar hit four home runs in 137 games. He's already got two in three games in 2022.

The next batter was catcher Jorge Alfaro, who continued a hot streak that started in the Cactus League. Alfaro launched a missile for his 1st San Diego home run to make it 5-0 Friars. Smith didn't make it out of the 2nd inning and the Padres poured it on the Arizona bullpen.

In the 5th inning Crobin Martin uncorked wild pitches on back-to-back deliveries. Jake Cronenworth scored on the first one and Luke Voit came home on the second one to pump the lead up to 8-0. In the 6th inning Manny Machado doubled home a run and Cronenworth delivered a sacrifice fly to make it 10-0, more than enough cushion for the relief corps.

Austin Adams, Craig Stammen, and Robert Suarez, followed Crismatt. Suarez allowed one run, a solo homer to Christian Walker, but he was able to bounce back nicely after blowing the save in Thursday night's opener. The hard-throwing righty went 2.0 innings, allowing just that one hit and striking out a pair.

Javy Guerra had issues late in the game. He turned in a scoreless 8th inning but after getting one run in the 9th he walked a hitter then gave up three straight hits, the last one a 3-run homer to Cooper Hummel that cut the lead to 10-5. It was more of an annoyance than a scare. Padres manager Bob Melvin didn't want to have to use any more relievers so he let Guerra work his way through it. Javy needed 55 pitches but eventually found the game's final out.

The Padres are 3-1 and in 1st place in the National League West. They start a 3-game series on Monday against the defending division champion Giants up in San Francisco.

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