Major League Baseball
Diamondbacks 4, Padres 2(11)
Major League Baseball

Diamondbacks 4, Padres 2(11)

Published Apr. 11, 2012 8:00 a.m. ET

Kirk Gibson thought about calling for a sacrifice when Chris Young came to the plate with a runner on first in the 11th inning. The manager ended up letting him swing away, and it proved to be the right decision.

Young hit a two-run homer and the Arizona Diamondbacks remained undefeated with a 4-2 victory over the San Diego Padres on Tuesday night.

After Micah Owings (0-1) hit leadoff batter Gerardo Parra, Gibson considered having Young advance the runner, but decided against the move. Young sent the next pitch into the lower deck of the left-field stands for his second homer.

''We talked about it before the inning if Parra got a hit,'' Young said. ''I'm glad he decided not to.''

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Gibson thought Owings and the Padres might be expecting a bunt.

''Our dilemma was should we bunt him or not and obviously we went against that,'' Gibson said. ''He came through with a huge hit for us there.''

Craig Breslow (1-0) pitched a perfect 10th inning to earn the victory against his former team, lifting Arizona to its first 4-0 start. The Diamondbacks are the only unbeaten team in the National League.

Yonder Alonso hit a leadoff single in the 11th for San Diego, but J.J. Putz retired the next three batters for his third save in three chances.

''We've played so many games in this park, and this is a typical game here where it just kind of hangs close,'' Gibson said. ''As the night goes on, you don't really expect home runs. You get a lot of close baseball in this park, and we did again tonight, but fortunately we won.''

The Diamondbacks held a 2-1 lead before Orlando Hudson tripled and scored on Jason Bartlett's single in the seventh. San Diego advanced a runner to third in the ninth, but David Hernandez struck out Cameron Maybin to end the threat.

''We had trouble locating the ball tonight for whatever reason,'' Gibson said. ''I don't know if the umpire had a tight zone or what it was, but the guys didn't get too frustrated. We adapted to the zone and we were able to get the win tonight.''

Trevor Cahill pitched six strong innings in his debut for Arizona, despite issuing six walks to his hometown team. Cahill, who was acquired from Oakland in a five-player trade in December, grew up about 40 miles north of San Diego and was facing the Padres for the first time in his career.

''I didn't feel nervous or anything,'' Cahill said. ''I thought I was, but I just didn't know where the ball was going. I made some good pitches when I had to. After a while, I guess I settled down a little bit.''

Cahill struck out five and threw more balls (54) than strikes (50).

''We couldn't get the big hit,'' Padres manager Bud Black said. ''Cahill gave us the opportunity via the base on balls. When we had some runners out there, he seemed to make a pitch.''

Paul Goldschmidt's two-run double was one of three hits in the first against Edinson Volquez, who allowed only two more hits over the next six innings.

Volquez struck out a season-high eight, including a stretch of four batters in a row, and issued three walks.

NOTES: Arizona OF Justin Upton was scratched from the starting lineup with an injured thumb. Upton hurt himself sliding into second base on Sunday, but X-rays were negative. Upton entered the game in the 11th to play right field. ... San Diego's Mark Kotsay, who began the season the disabled list with a calf injury, will start a rehab assignment on Wednesday with Class A Lake Elsinore. ... Joe Saunders will make his season debut for Arizona on Tuesday against San Diego's Cory Luebke.

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