D-backs' home struggles continue with loss to Padres
PHOENIX -- The home losses keep piling up for the Arizona Diamondbacks, and they will soon find themselves alone in the cellar in the NL West if they can't figure out a way to beat the San Diego Padres.
Derek Norris drove in three runs with a home run and a double before leaving with an injury and the Padres beat the Diamondbacks 8-4 on Monday night.
The Diamondbacks led twice but couldn't hold it.
"We are just not playing winning baseball right now," Arizona manager Chip Hale said. "That is what it boils down to."
With Zack Greinke hurt, Archie Bradley (3-4) started and had another uneven performance. He struck out seven, walked three and gave up two home runs.
"Frustrating again," Bradley said. "I have good innings then really bad innings. I need to put a complete game together."
With Arizona's loss, the Diamondbacks and Padres are in a virtual tie for last in the NL West.
The Padres' Yangervis Solarte added a two-run homer and Luis Perdomo (3-3) pitched six solid innings to get the victory. The 23-year-old right-hander, in his sixth start, allowed three runs on nine hits, striking out five with no walks. He pitched to one batter in the seventh.
Norris, the team's catcher, left in the eighth inning when he was struck in the arm by a bat on the follow-through by hitter Brandon Drury.
"I think he's going to be fine," Green said. "He's going to get an x-ray to check just to make sure that everything's good. It caught him on that nerve, the funnybone. He just couldn't get feeling back."
Norris' two-run homer off in the sixth put the Padres up for good. Bradley, starting in place of injured Zack Greinke, went six innings, giving up five runs on six hits as Arizona fell to 14-31 at home, second-worst in the National League.
Solarte homered for the third time at Chase Field this season.
"The balls go out here," he said. "It's not necessarily my focus. I'm just trying to make good contact. I know I can hit balls out, but that's not what I'm trying to do. I'm trying to square balls up and thankfully the balls have been going out."
Jake Lamb had an RBI triple and Paul Goldschmidt a run-scoring double for the Diamondbacks, who fell into a virtual tie with the Padres for last place in the NL West.
Norris, 1 for 13 in San Diego's just-completed homestand, got the green light on a 3-0 pitch and sent it into the left field seats, a two-run homer with two outs in the sixth that gave the Padres their first lead, 5-3. Norris and Ryan Schimpf, batting .132 entering the game, added RBI doubles off reliever Daniel Hudson in San Diego's three-run eighth.
Arizona went ahead 3-2 when Lamb poked the ball down the right field line for an RBI triple.
The lead didn't last long. Bradley walked Wil Myers to start the sixth, Matt Kemp doubled to deep left-center and it was 3-3 to set up Norris' home run.
Arizona took a 2-0 lead in the first. One run scored on Goldschmidt's double, the other on a throwing error by the third baseman Solarte.
He made up for it in the fourth, following Kemp's single with a home run into the right field seats to tie it at 2-2.
O'BRIEN SENT DOWN
The Peter O'Brien experiment is over, at least for now. The team optioned him back to Triple-A Reno on Monday. The big outfielder was tearing up the Pacific Coast League -- batting .356 with 17 homers and 52 RBIs. But major league pitching often baffled him, especially the off-speed stuff.
O'Brien appeared in 21 games with the Diamondbacks, batting .123 with four homers but 25 strikeouts in 60 plate appearances. O'Brien struck out with the tying run on third to end Sunday's 5-4, 11-inning loss to San Francisco.
Shortstop Nick Ahmed was activated from the paternity list and took O'Brien's roster spot.
UP NEXT
Padres: Lefty Christian Friedrich (4-3, 3.96 ERA) makes his 10th start of the season.
Diamondbacks: RHP Zack Godley (1-0, 4.35) will be called up from Triple-A Reno again to make his second start of the season
