SAN DIEGO- The San Diego Padres take down the Arizona Diamondbacks 1-0 behind a clutch Luis Arraez home run and a couple of robberies on Tuesday night.
It was a pitcher’s duel between starters Nick Pivetta and Merrill Kelly, with neither pitcher allowing a base runner until the fourth inning.
Arraez (.293 BA, .736 OPS) broke the scoreless tie in the seventh after he turned on an inside fastball for a no-doubter (5). Arraez got ahead 2-0 and took advantage of the pitch he wanted from Kelly.
“I just tried to do what I do every time and hit the ball,” said Arraez. “He’s a good pitcher, he works the corners. I took my spot and just hit it hard.”
Arraez was the only Padre that touched second base tonight, as Kelly (7-5, 3.41 ERA) had the San Diego offense off balance with his arsenal. Kelly lived on the edges with his sinker and worked his changeup down to keep hitters uncomfortable.
“The guy’s got nasty stuff,” said Manager Mike Shildt. “He [Arraez] just wants it more. He’s got this amazing competitive trait that I admire highly.”
Pivetta (9-2, 3.07 ERA) was also untouchable tonight and finished his outing allowing zero earned runs and two hits with seven strikeouts in five 2/3 innings pitched.
“Pretty good fastball command that I was happy with. Just trying to keep them off balance as much as I can,” said Pivetta.
Despite the shutout outing, Pivetta had a rocky fourth inning. With bases loaded and one out, Pivetta struck out back-to-back hitters to escape the jam unscathed.
“They battled me pretty hard today,” said Pivetta. “I loaded the bases, but I was able to execute my pitches. It was an exciting moment.”
Pivetta had some help defensively as outfielders Jackson Merrill and Fernando Tatis Jr. robbed two home runs.
The first one came from Merrill in the fifth, going up at the dead center wall to snag a two-run home run from outfielder Corbin Carroll to keep the game tied at 0-0.
Tatis was next, robbing first baseman Josh Naylor in right field in the eighth. Tatis got the perfect read and was all over the ball off the bat to keep the D-backs from tying it late.
“You win on both sides of the ball,” said Shildt. “Guys with that kind of athleticism and talent, they show up and beat the other team in a lot of different ways.”
Closer Robert Suarez came in and shut the door on Arizona for his 26th save of the season for the 1-0 victory. The Padres (49-42) look to keep their momentum against the Diamondbacks (45-47) in game three on Wednesday night, at 6:40 p.m.