Despite some great offense by our Padres in last night's series opener at Chavez Ravine, they couldn't get it done with pitching and defense. Hopefully Eric Stults can have better results tonight as they try to even up the series.

Stults has struggled this year, but has been pitching much better lately. He's 2-0 with a 1.37 ERA in his three August starts so far. But if history is any indication, getting back to Dodger Stadium may put an end to that streak. The southpaw is 1-4 with a 3.96 ERA in six overall starts against is former team. Four of those outings took place in L.A., where he's 1-2 with a 3.70 ERA.

On the hill for L.A. will be veteran Roberto Hernandez in his home debut for the Dodgers. It'll be the righty's third start since being acquired from the Phillies earlier this month. Hernandez allowed three earned runs over 12 innings in his previous two as a Dodger, going 1-0.

Tune in at 7:10 PT tonight to see if our Friars can get back on track.

And don't forget to check out today's SB Nation Fantasy Baseball league on FanDuel. It's $2 to join and first prize is $2,000. There's also an MLB Squeeze (Late Night) league with a first prize of $1,200 if you miss the first one. You can join at this link.

Greinke will start on Saturday against the Mets.

LOS ANGELES -- As expected, Zack Greinke won't make his scheduled start against the Padres on Thursday, Dodgers manager Don Mattingly said on Wednesday. But the news could have been much worse.

Greinke has elbow discomfort but will start Saturday against the Mets. An MRI exam of Greinke's right elbow two weeks ago showed no structural damage, and the right-hander is expected to avoid any time on the disabled list.

"He's had some elbow discomfort. It's basically what he had during spring training last year. He's not that concerned. He kind of notices everything, like all these guys do," Mattingly said. "I think he didn't really want to miss a start, but we felt like we're better off giving him a couple extra days for the long term."

With Greinke pushed back two days, Clayton Kershaw will pitch the series finale against the Padres on Thursday with Dan Haren starting Friday against the Mets. Both Kershaw and Haren will be on regular rest thanks to Monday's off day, but Mattingly mentioned that Kershaw's next three starts, because of off days, will be on extra rest.

Greinke was reticent to go into much medical detail, but was also confident he would avoid a stint on the disabled list.

"There's nothing wrong with the ligament, it's just something that just comes and goes," Greinke said. "I don't have a percentage or level of concern I can describe. I don't expect to be pitching at 100 percent. It's possible, but I wouldn't guarantee it, that's for sure."

The Dodgers have four off days in the next 23 days, including Wednesday night, and rosters expand on Sept. 1, giving the Dodgers flexibility to move Greinke around as needed.

"The way the off days are set up we can give him more time. We'll try to give him extra rest when we can," Mattingly said.

Greinke, 0-2 with a 3.50 ERA in his last three starts, said he would be able to pitch through this problem.

"I can still pitch at 100 percent effectiveness. Just like when you go on a run, your right foot might be a little sore but you could still run as good as you could if your foot wasn't sore," Greinke said. "I expect to pitch at a 100-percent level, but I don't expect to feel 100 percent while I'm throwing."

Padres roster move

San Diego activated outfielder Cameron Maybin off the restricted list after he served his 25-game suspension for amphetamine. The team optioned infielder Jace Peterson back to Triple-A El Paso and designated pitcher Bobby LaFromboise for assignment.

LOS ANGELES -- The Padres rallied for three early runs for a second straight night but this time it held up, defeating the Dodgers 4-1 on Wednesday night at Dodger Stadium.

For a second straight night, a Dodgers August pitching acquisition allowed four runs in five innings, but this time the offense didn't bail Roberto Hernandez out.

One night after he opened the scoring with a three-run home run in the first inning, Padres second baseman Jedd Gyorko started another rally in the second inning on Wednesday. His leadoff single was followed one out later by walks to Jake Goebbert and Rymer Liriano. All three scored on a pair of singles, with a little help from an error in left field by Scott Van Slyke.

"With Roberto it's about staying down in the zone, not a lot of tricks to it, trying to get ground balls," manager Don Mattingly said. "Tonight it seemed like he was behind in a lot of counts and just taking a lot of pitches to get through hitters.

The teams traded sacrifice flies in the third and fourth innings, but then things quieted down, especially for the Dodgers.

Kemp's sacrifice fly was the first of eight straight outs recorded by Eric Stults to end his night after five innings. Blaine Boyer followed with two scoreless innings, retiring six of the seven batters he faced.

A pair of runners reached base in the eighth inning, bringing Kemp to the plate representing the tying run, but he flew out to center field to end the frame.

With Padres closer Joaquin Benoit dealing with a "cranky" shoulder per Corey Brock of MLB.com, Kevin Quackenbush retired the Dodgers in the ninth inning for his first major league save.

Notes

Pedro Baez pitched scoreless baseball in the sixth and the seventh, and has yet to allow a run since his major league debut. In his last six appearances Baez has allowed only four hits in eight scoreless innings, but also only has two strikeouts during that span.

Justin Turner was 1-for-2 with a walk, his 24th consecutive start reaching base by hit or walk. During that span, which dates back to June 6, Turner is hitting .373 (38-for-102) overall with eight extra-base hits and 13 walks.

Dee Gordon, who didn't start but entered as a pinch hitter in the fifth inning, singled and stole second base in the eighth inning. His 57 steals this season pass Steve Sax (1983) for seventh-most by an LA Dodger in one season. Up next is current first base coach Davey Lopes, who stole 59 bases in 1974.

The Dodgers fell to 0-46 when trailing after seven innings.

Up next

The elbow discomfort for Zack Greinke shuffled the Dodgers starting rotation a bit, moving Clayton Kershaw up to start Thursday's series finale against the Padres. Tyson Ross starts for San Diego.

Wednesday particulars

Home runs: none

WP - Eric Stults (6-13): 5 IP, 4 hits, 1 run, 1 walk, 5 strikeouts

LP - Roberto Hernandez (7-9): 5 IP, 8 hits, 4 runs (3 earned), 2 walks, 2 strikeouts

Sv - Kevin Quackenbush (1): 1 IP, 1 hit

Tomorrow would have probably been a better time to do this post because that will be the one-month mark since the Padres traded Chase Headley to the Yankees, but who knows if I'll get hit by a bus or something tonight, so I can't wait one minute more.

Now that you have some mid-'90s melodic hardcore playing in another tab, here are the numbers to back up the headline. Since the trade, Yangervis Solarte has-- actually, you know what, it'd be better for all of us if I just made a little table about it.

Wow. As you can see, Solarte has out-done Headley in every category except doubling, and that's only because Solarte keeps going 'til he's at third. Oh, and he's under club control for mad years, and that Rafael DePaula dude came along for the ride, too. This one's looking fresher by the day.

LOS ANGELES -- Clayton Kershaw gets the start for the Dodgers in the series finale against the Padres on Thursday night, looking for a series win and looking to stop the bleeding for the Dodgers.

The club has lost four of its last five games and has dropped seven of its last 10 home games. The opposition has scored first in each of the Dodgers' last four games, including a start by Kershaw on Saturday against Milwaukee that saw him allow two home runs for the first time all season.

Kershaw didn't allow a single home run at home to the Padres in any of his first nine starts at Dodger Stadium against San Diego. But he has allowed at least one home run in each of his last four starts against the Padres in Los Angeles, six in all.

Those six home runs were hit by five players, and Everth Cabrera is the only one still on San Diego's roster, and he's on the 15-day disabled list. Chris Denorfia, now with Seattle, hit two here against Kershaw, Kyle Blanks hit another, and Chase Headley's solo shot on July 10 snapped Kershaw's 41-inning scoreless streak.

Kershaw is 6-4 with a 2.48 ERA against the Padres at home in 13 starts, with 76 strikeouts and 35 walks. But Kershaw's career ERA at Dodger Stadium is 2.17, so count San Diego as a team with relative success against him.

But the currently active Padres are 17-for-85 against Kershaw, hitting .200/.292/.247. Yasmani Grandal is 5-for-11 (.455) with a double and a walk against Kershaw, but only two other players have more than two career hits against him: Will Venable is 4-for-16 (.250) with two walks, and Chris Nelson is 3-for-8 (.375) with a walk.

The next hit Kershaw allows will be the 1,000th of his career. Opposing batters against him in his career have hit .210/.274/.310, the best in baseball across the board in those categories, including OPS+ (65).

Padres ace Tyson Ross opposes Kershaw on the mound on Thursday. He has lost all three starts this year against the Dodgers, though the last two were hard-luck defeats that saw him last seven innings each time and allow four total runs.

San Diego has scored three runs in his three starts against the Dodgers this season.

Game info

Time: 7:10 p.m. PT

TV: SportsNet LA

Roberto Hernandez allowed three runs in the second inning, which was enough for the Padres to beat the Dodgers on Wednesday night at Dodger Stadium.

LOS ANGELES -- The Dodgers continue their scramble mode, looking for more offense in the middle game of their series against the Padres on Wednesday night at Dodger Stadium.

Tuesday night's 8-6 Dodgers win was the highest-scoring game between the two teams this season, with Los Angeles and San Diego combining for only 49 runs between them in their first 10 matchups this year.

Kevin Correia came to the Dodgers tied for the major league lead with 13 losses but has won both of his starts with his new club. On Wednesday night, one of the pitchers he was tied with gets the start for San Diego. But Eric Stults, like Correia, is still stuck on 13 losses.

Stults has a 1.37 ERA over his last three starts, with 10 strikeouts and five walks in 19⅔ innings.

Roberto Hernandez gets the call for the Dodgers, making his third start as a Dodger. Hernandez had 13 strikeouts in his final six starts combined for Philadelphia, but has 10 strikeouts in 12 innings in two starts as a Dodger.

Hernandez has lasted six innings in both starts as a Dodger, and in eight of his last 10 starts overall, lasting 5⅔  innings in his other two outings during that span.

The Dodgers are 8-3 against the Padres this season, including 4-1 at Dodger Stadium. The two teams are at the start of a stretch that see them play nine times in a 20-game stretch.

Game info

Time: 7:10 p.m. PT

TV: SportsNet LA, ESPN (no blackout)

LOS ANGELES -- The Dodgers got encouraging news on their injured regulars on Thursday, with expected early returns from Hanley Ramirez and Hyun-jin Ryu.

Ramirez took batting practice before Thursday's game against the Padres, and manager Don Mattingly said Ramirez remains on track for activation from the disabled list on Sunday, his earliest day eligible to return.

"For Hanley it's just a matter of him continuing baseball work, basically doing running and things like that," Mattingly said. "We feel like he's going to be ready to go Sunday."

Ryu threw in the outfield on Thursday then threw briefly off a mound in the bullpen. He is making progress from his strained gluteus muscle, and figures to be activated shortly after his first day eligible, Aug. 30.

"Hyun-jin is doing pretty good. We feel like the timetable for his time frame to come off will be within a day or two," Mattingly said. "We feel like he's going to be fine."

★★★

Juan Uribe, on the disabled list with a strained right hamstring, also took batting practice on Thursday and also fielded a few ground balls. He continues to progress, though Mattingly said Uribe is still "a ways away" from returning. Uribe last played on Aug. 15.

★★★

Clayton Kershaw, pressed into duty on regular rest on Thursday, with Zack Greinke pushed back to Saturday with elbow soreness, is scheduled to make his next start on Wednesday in Arizona, on five days rest. The Dodgers are off Monday and Thursday next week and Mattingly said he plans to use his off days to give his starting pitchers extra rest.

★★★

Chris Perez threw in the bullpen at Dodger Stadium on Thursday and is scheduled to continue his minor league rehab assignment with Class-A Rancho Cucamonga with outings on Friday, Tuesday, then next Friday, Aug. 29. Perez, on the DL with bone spurs in his right ankle, will likely be activated from the DL once rosters expand in September.

★★★

Paco Rodriguez, sidelined with a strain of his teres major muscle, threw submaximally on Wednesday, estimated by Mattingly at roughly 70 percent effort.

"It will be into September before we would see him," Mattingly said. "We're hoping that he would be to throw some kind of minor league game before those seasons end, but it depends on how he progresses."

Minor league regular seasons for Class-A Great Lakes through Triple-A Albuquerque run through Monday, Sept. 1. The rookie-level Ogden Raptors in the Pioneer League play their last game on Thursday, Sept. 4.

★★★

Miguel Rojas gets the start at shortstop on Thursday, his first start since Saturday. Mattingly said he didn't want to play Erisbel Arruebarrena every single day, especially since he recently came off the disabled list and has played five straight days, including three minor league rehab games in Arizona.

Justin Turner hit a two-run home run in the eighth inning to back Clayton Kershaw's eight strong innings with 10 strikeouts, giving the Dodgers a win over the Padres and their first comeback win of the season when trailing after seven innings.

LOS ANGELES -- Clayton Kershaw gets the start for the Dodgers in the series finale against the Padres on Thursday night, looking for a series win and looking to stop the bleeding for the Dodgers.

The club has lost four of its last five games and has dropped seven of its last 10 home games. The opposition has scored first in each of the Dodgers' last four games, including a start by Kershaw on Saturday against Milwaukee that saw him allow two home runs for the first time all season.

Kershaw didn't allow a single home run at home to the Padres in any of his first nine starts at Dodger Stadium against San Diego. But he has allowed at least one home run in each of his last four starts against the Padres in Los Angeles, six in all.

Those six home runs were hit by five players, and Everth Cabrera is the only one still on San Diego's roster, and he's on the 15-day disabled list. Chris Denorfia, now with Seattle, hit two here against Kershaw, Kyle Blanks hit another, and Chase Headley's solo shot on July 10 snapped Kershaw's 41-inning scoreless streak.

Kershaw is 6-4 with a 2.48 ERA against the Padres at home in 13 starts, with 76 strikeouts and 35 walks. But Kershaw's career ERA at Dodger Stadium is 2.17, so count San Diego as a team with relative success against him.

But the currently active Padres are 17-for-85 against Kershaw, hitting .200/.292/.247. Yasmani Grandal is 5-for-11 (.455) with a double and a walk against Kershaw, but only two other players have more than two career hits against him: Will Venable is 4-for-16 (.250) with two walks, and Chris Nelson is 3-for-8 (.375) with a walk.

The next hit Kershaw allows will be the 1,000th of his career. Opposing batters against him in his career have hit .210/.274/.310, the best in baseball across the board in those categories, including OPS+ (65).

Padres ace Tyson Ross opposes Kershaw on the mound on Thursday. He has lost all three starts this year against the Dodgers, though the last two were hard-luck defeats that saw him last seven innings each time and allow four total runs.

San Diego has scored three runs in his three starts against the Dodgers this season.

Game info

Time: 7:10 p.m. PT

TV: SportsNet LA

LOS ANGELES -- Justin Turner hit a two-run home run in the eighth inning, supporting Clayton Kershaw and lifting the Dodgers to a 2-1 win over the Padres at Dodger Stadium.

The scenario was perfect, really, with so many hung up on the Dodgers' 0-46 record when trailing after seven innings. The Dodgers trailed 1-0 entering the eighth inning, providing Turner an opportunity to make good on this tweet from one night earlier.

From what I have gathered from fans' responses tonight, not only do the Dodgers need to win, but have to do so in comeback fashion

— Eric Stephen (@truebluela) August 21, 2014

Make that 1-46.

"Maybe you guys will stop talking about that," Turner joked. "We're all aware of that. We just try to pull together. Carl takes a good at-bat, and we get a break, bouncing off his glove. Then I caught a mistake off Ross. It's a pretty good feeling."

Tyson Ross proved every bit the worthy rival to Kershaw on Thursday, matching him on the mound and even causing problems at the plate.

Kershaw took a no-hitter into the sixth inning, facing the minimum number of batters until Ross singled over the head of shortstop Miguel Rojas with two outs. Kershaw got out of the sixth inning with a strikeout of Yangervis Solarte, but the seventh inning was not so kind.

Abraham Almonte opened the seventh with a single, then Kershaw walked Jedd Gyorko. A fly ball to center field advanced Almonte to third, then a hard single to left field by Rene Rivera brought home the game's only run.

Manager Don Mattingly said he thought Kershaw had no-hit stuff on Thursday, but the pitcher disagreed.

"Apparently not, I gave up three, so no," Kershaw quipped. "I gave up a hit to the pitcher, so I guess it wasn't my night."

Before Ross broke up the no-hitter in the sixth inning, opposing pitchers were 0-for-20 with 11 strikeouts at home against Kershaw this season.

Ross allowed two hits and a walk with six strikeouts in the first seven innings, including 12 straight batters retired until Carl Crawford led off with an infield single, setting up Turner's heroics.

The Padres have only scored two runs with Ross in the game in his four starts against the Dodgers. Ross has a 2.67 ERA in those four starts against Los Angeles, with 29 strikeouts and eight walks in 27 innings. But he is 0-4.

"Tyson is really, really good. I knew I was in for a battle tonight," Kershaw said.

The Dodgers put three runners on base in the first three innings against Ross, but never more than one at a time. The team's two best base stealers - Carl Crawford in the second inning and Dee Gordon in the third - were each thrown out trying to steal second base by Rivera, which was news in itself.

Entering Thursday opposing runners stole 27 bases against Ross, one shy of the major league lead, with only six caught in the act. Rivera had a solid 34-percent caught stealing rate, nabbing 23-of-67 would-be stealers, but with Ross on the mound Rivera threw out only six of 25 runners trying to steal (24 percent).

Kershaw struck out 10 in his eight innings, picking up his 15th win of the season to tie for the National League lead. All five of Kershaw's double-digit strikeout games this season have come at home.

Kershaw lowered his ERA on the season to 1.82, and since the beginning of June has been sublime. In his last 15 starts Kershaw is 12-1 with a 1.30 ERA, with 138 strikeouts and only 14 walks.

For Turner, his magical season continues. After his 2-for-3 night, he is hitting .344/.479/.459 in 26 games since the All-Star break. On the season, Turner is hitting .314/.386/.441 and has started all four infield positions.

"He's played a number of roles for us, from playing anywhere in the infield to pinch hitting to playing regularly," Mattingly said. "People are starting to get a good picture of him. He's a guy who swings the bat well, and he's been really good for us."

It was the fourth home run of the year for Turner, matching a career high set in 2011, and the 12th home run in his career.

"I knew I hit it good, but you never know here at night time. I don't hit a lot of homers so no i don't know when they go out, but I definitely saw it go over the fence," Turner said. "Davey [Lopes, first base coach] was waiting to give me a high-five, so that was cool. I've never really got to high-five a first base coach on a home run."

Up next

The Dodgers finish up a nine-game homestand with a weekend series against the Mets, with Dan Haren taking the mound in Friday night's opener. Jon Niese starts for New York.

Thursday particulars

Home runs: Justin Turner (4)

WP - Clayton Kershaw (15-3): 8 IP, 3 hits, 1 run, 2 walks, 10 strikeouts

LP - Tyson Ross (11-12): 8 IP, 4 hits, 2 runs, 2 walks, 8 strikeouts

Sv - Kenley Jansen (36): 1 IP, 1 walk, 2 strikeouts

LOS ANGELES -- Clayton Kershaw gave up all of three hits in winning his 15th game on Thursday night against the Padres, and joked that because he allowed a hit to pitcher Tyson Ross, "I guess it just wasn't my night." But that was far from the truth for Kershaw, who turned in another brilliant performance.

Kershaw allowed just one run in his eight innings, the 10th time he has lasted at least eight innings in a start this season. Only David Price (15) and Johnny Cueto (11) have more such games in 2014, but neither missed five weeks on the disabled list like Kershaw.

The Dodgers ace is averaging 7.30 innings per start this season, which would be the highest mark over a full season by a Dodgers starter since Orel Hershiser averaged 7.51 innings per start in 1989.

Kershaw also struck out 10 Padres on Thursday, his fifth double-digit strikeout game of the season, two shy of his career high set in 2011. In his career Kershaw has 27 games of 10 or more strikeouts, tied for fourth-most ever by a Dodgers pitcher.

Kershaw's 27 games match Don Sutton and Fernando Valenzuela, who made 533 and 320 starts, respectively, for the Dodgers. Thursday was Kershaw's 203rd start as a Dodger.

Sandy Koufax stands far atop the leaderboard, with 97 double-digit strikeout games in his career. In case you were wondering, through his first 203 career starts (through all but his last start in 1963) Koufax had 51 double-digit strikeout games.

Amazingly, even though Kershaw missed five weeks on the disabled list in April and May, he ranks third in the National League with 184 strikeouts, within reasonable striking distance of Stephen Strasburg (198) and Johnny Cueto (191), each of whom have six more starts than Kershaw.

It doesn't seem like the offense bothered to make the recent road-trip to the East coast. Will they show up again, now we're back in Phoenix?

Odrisamer Despaigne RHP, 3-4, 3.28

Josh Collmenter RHP, 8-7, 4.31

Yangervis Solarte - 3B	Ender Inciarte - CF
Abraham Almonte - LF	Cliff Pennington - 2B
Seth Smith - RF	David Peralta - RF
Jedd Gyorko - 2B	Mark Trumbo - 1B
Yasmani Grandal - C	Miguel Montero - C
Jacob Goebbert - 1B	Alfredo Marte - LF
Will Venable - CF	Jake Lamb - 3B
Alexi Amarista - SS	Didi Gregorius - SS
Odrisamer Despaigne - RHP	Josh Collmenter - RHP

The Diamondbacks will be hoping their road trip, which melted down into an ongoing six-game losing streak, hasn't followed them home to Chase Field tonight, where they open a three-game set against the Padres. There's no doubt about the cause, and it wasn't our pitching, which posted an adequate 3.71 ERA over the ten contests on the East Coast, where the Diamondbacks went 2-8. It was the ongoing struggle of the offense, which has been terrible all month, and scored a total of 21 runs on the road-trip batting .188/.256/.276 in .368 PAs.

By virtually any metric, this has been the worst spell of hitting by the Diamondbacks EVER. We've never had a collective OPS below .650 for a calendar month: for August, we're currently at .606. We've never scored less than 84 runs in a month - that was at the start of 2009, when we played only 22 games. We've already played 19 in August, and have managed only 60 runs. Here are the 10 worst months in team history, by OPS. Two of the bottom six happened this season. Tell me again, when does spring training start?

After the awfulness which was the road-trip, the D-backs enjoyed their first comfortable win for quite a while, as Josh Collmenter took a shutout into the ninth inning.

Arizona jumped on top early, scoring three runs in the bottom of the first. Mark Trumbo got an infield single to score David Peralta, and he was followed by Miguel Montero's 13th home-run of the season, off the right-field foul pole, to make it 3-0 to the Diamondbacks. They added another run on a Padres error in the second, and Jake Lamb got an RBI groundout in the eighth to give us our highest tally of runs since before we hit the road. Montero powered the offense, with two of our seven hits as well as a walk, scoring and driving in a pair.

Meanwhile, Josh Collmenter put to rest any concerns about fatigue, and only faced on batter over the minimum through the first eight innings. He seemed to tire in the ninth, giving up a pair of hits around his eighth strikeout, and was lifted to a loud ovation from the crowd with one out. He ended up with four hits allowed and no walks. Matt Stites came in to replace Collmenter, and got the second out, but a passed ball allowed a runner to score, ending hopes of the shutout. There was no further damage, and all told, this was the best played game I've seen from the team in quite a while.

Ever go on a trip where the accommodation is lousy, you catch dysentery, the locals are downright hostile, so you can't wait to get back, kick off your shoes and slump into your own comfy sofa? Tonight's game was kinda like that homecoming.

Record: 54-75. Pace: 68-94. Change on 2013/2010: -12/+3

Dear Diamondbacks,

We wish to register a complaint. We tuned into tonight's game, eagerly anticipating three hours of mediocre pitching, feeble offense and defensive miscues, which could be mocked, derided and generally contribute to the ongoing sense of apathy and depression which has enveloped us as Diamondbacks fans this season. After the way the recent road-trip ended, it was clear that this was what we should expect for the rest of the year. So, imagine our shock and horror to find timely hitting, solid work on the mound and even defensive excellence. Where are our 2014 Diamondbacks, and what have you done with them?

Love, the SnakePit

Yeah, it may have been a rarer occurrence than Kate Bush playing live, but tonight was one of those games where we actually gave a credible impersonation of a decent baseball team. The Diamondbacks scored as many runs with two down in the first inning, as we managed over the previous 29 innings combined, coming a double short of hitting for the cycle between the second and third outs. David Peralta got things going with his 7th triple - already the most by a D-back since Gerardo Parra's eight in 2011 - and Mark Trumbo then knocked a ground-ball into the shortstop hole, legging it up the line to beat out an infield RBI single.

Hooray! We got a hit with a runner on third and two outs! But there was better - much better - to come, as Miguel Montero followed up by cranking the first pitch he saw, low and hard down the right-field line. It clanged off the foul-pole there, three or four feet above the yellow stripe, for his 13th home-run of the season, a two-run shot which put the home team up by three. That's the first time we've had a three-run lead at the end of any inning, since David Peralta's grand-slam gave us a 14-4 win over the Rockies on August 8. We added on in the second, Jake Lamb taking advantage of a Padres error to scurry home, and in the eighth, Lamb had an RBI groundout to make it 5-0.

Of course, rediscovering the lost art of "scoring runs" is only one half of the equation of winning baseball. The other half is tiger blood good pitching, and we got that in spades from Josh Collmenter. There had been concern after his abbreviated last outing, Collmenter having to assure Kirk Gibson that he wasn't suffering from fatigue or some other kind of physical issue. Whatever had ailed Josh in Miami, clearly wasn't a problem tonight at Chase Field, as he blew through the Padres. His velocity seemed better this evening: maybe part of the reason why he pitches better at Chase is the dry desert air helping his velocity a tad? Just a speculation.

Whatever the cause, he was virtually impeccable through the first eight innings, facing just one batter over the minimum, having allowed two hits and no walks, with a season-high seven strikeouts. With the chance at only our second complete-game shutout of the season [Collmenter also had the first, against the Reds on May 29], he went out there for the ninth, but after allowing two singles around his eighth strikeout, he was lifted. Matt Stites came in, and while he got the second out, it left runners on the corners and Montero then allowed a passed ball, which ended hopes of our fifth shutout of the year.

Still, even the toughest of fans would be hard pushed to quibble with Collmenter's line this evening: 8.1 IP, 4 H, 0 BB, 8 K, 0 ER, and he fully deserved the thunderous ovation he received [the crowd was also unimpressed with Kirk Gibson's decision to take him out!]. That drops his ERA for the year at Chase down below three, less than half of what it is on the road, 6.04. Quite why there's such a big discrepancy, I'm not sure: it may purely be luck, considering that coming into tonight's game, Collmenter's BABIP at home was .226 (and has probably dropped further, with a figure here of .200), while away from Chase it was all the way up at .391.

Elsewhere, even the defense played its part tonight, right from the start when Collmenter made a fabulous reaction grab of a liner back to the mound, for the second out in the first inning. That was the start of an evening of sound, fundamental baseball, highlighted by two plays in the top of the third inning. First, Ender inciarte made a very good play on a ball hit in front of him at center, diving to make the second out. This was followed the next batter up, by Peralta getting an outfield assist, on an ill-advised attempt by a Padres baserunner to go first to third on a single, which turned into the end of the inning. All told, quite a change from the horrors of the road-trip.

[Click to enlarge, at fangraphs.com]
Wuthering Heights: Josh Collmenter, +25.0%
Running Up That Hill: Miguel Montero, +16.9%
50 Words for Snow: Cliff Pennington, -2.1%

For unsurprising reasons, only a few people apparently about to witness this. Just a dozen people in the comments thread, with GuruB and preston.salisbury tied for the top spot, with Paulnh in third place. Also present were: Diamondhacks, Jim McLennan, Makakilo, Rockkstarr12, SongBird, asteroid, dsadbacks2001, hotclaws and shoewizard. No comments went red, but given the low turnout, that's not too surprising, so we'll go with paulnh for Comment of the Night

Actual runs are the best.

Josh Collmenter chunks.

by Paulnh on Aug 22, 2014 | 7:04 PMupreply unrec (1) actions

At 2:21 this was tied for the quickest game of the year at Chase, just one minute behind the fastest of the season overall, when Bronson Arroyo and Adam Wainwright faced off in St. Louis on May 20th. Tomorrow is a 5:10pm first pitch at Chase, as we see Vidal Nuño take on Andrew Cashner of the Padres.

Trying to bounce back from a tough night in St. Louis, Odrisamer Despaigne was attacked early and the bats couldn't seem to back up pitching once again.

In seven games started Despaigne has posted 38 innings. he has given up 25 runs in those games and sits on a harsh 4.89 ERA. Harsh compared to the rest of his rotation-mates. Unfortunately, nothing seemed to go right for him tonight.

He was only able to last 5 innings after giving up 4 earned runs. Three of those came off an ugly first inning where he allowed a two-out triple from David Peralta. It was followed up by an RBI-single, and before Odrisamer could end the inning Miguel Montero stole a solo home run from him.

Things never really went the Padres' way after that. After Arizona tacked on another run, making things 4-0, the score remained unchanged. Abraham Almonte struck out twice, Despaigne had a glimmering chance at a hit to center but it was snatched out from under him, and Cameron Maybin came in to pinch hit but struck out as well.

John Collmenter was able to single-handedly surpress the Padres until the 9th inning when a lil' rally got started. The 9th-inning ninja Alexi Amarista and Yangervis Solarte both snuck a single. After being advanced by Almonte, Miguel Montero returned the run he scored earlier by failing to glove a pitch. The result was The Ninja ninja'ing in our only run of the night - preventing a shutout.

Good news is we got to see Frank Garces make an appearance again, throwing two innings of ball giving up one walk and striking out a snake. In his three innings pitched he's now sporting a 0.33 WHIP.

Due to a catastrophic failure of our offense for almost the entire game, our win probability was absolutely turrible. After that Montero home run, which garnered almost an 80% WE boost and kept the Diamondbacks on top for the entire night.


Source: FanGraphs

Everybody had a busy Friday night, but half a dozen of the faithful populated the gamethread.

No recs were issued today, doctors orders. But Friar Fever put the thread on his back with the most comments.

Our Padres offense has seemingly disappeared the last two nights, but hopefully they can find their way to Chase Field this evening in the middle game of the series against the Diamondbacks.

Over two months on the disabled list have Andrew Cashner itching to get back on the mound for the big league club. He'll make his return tonight and hopefully our Padres can get some runs on the board for him. Last night the team dropped to 2-6 on the road trip as the offense struggled to get anything going at the plate. Aside from Yangervis Solarte and Alexi Amarista, who each notched two hits on the night, the offense looked absolutely clueless. This was just one night removed from a game in which Clayton Kershaw once again flirted with a no-hitter and a fantastic outing by Tyson Ross was wasted with the resulting loss.

The Friars have lost seven of the ten games so far in the season series against the Dbacks. That includes three out of four games so far at Chase Field. Though Arizona is six games behind San Diego in the NL West standings and has failed to win consecutive games in two weeks, their track record against us combined with the recent reappearance of Padres offensive ineptitude are discouraging.

But hopefully the return of Cashner to the hill can spark something in the team and they can get back in the win column tonight. A sore throwing shoulder has kept Cashner on the sidelines for much of the season, but after more than two months he's ready to get back in the game with the big league club. In his final rehab start last Monday with the Triple-A El Paso Chihuahuas, he gave up three runs on four hits over five innings of work. Because of his shoulder as well as some elbow issues earlier in the season, the Opening Day starter has been limited to just 12 major league outings this year. Prior to being placed on the DL, Cashner went eight straight starts without notching a win. During that stretch he went 0-5 while receiving only nine total runs of support. Tonight will be his seventh career start against Arizona. He has a 2-1 record and 3.56 ERA in his previous six.

Toeing the rubber for the Dbacks will be southpaw and San Diego native, Vidal Nuno, who was acquired from the Yankees in the Brandon McCarthy trade. Nuno is 0-3 with a 3.72 in his eight starts so far as a Diamondback. This will be his first time facing the Friars.

Tune in for Cashner's return to the mound and (hopefully) our Padres' return to the win column tonight at 5:10 PT.

And don't forget to check out today's SB Nation Fantasy Baseball league on FanDuel. It's $2 to join and first prize is $1,000. You can join at this link.

Vidal Nuño makes his ninth start for the Diamondbacks this evening. He's still looking for his first win with us.

Andrew Cashner RHP, 2-6, 2.36

Vidal Nuno LHP, 2-8, 4.79

SAN DIEGO PADRES	ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS
Yangervis Solarte - 2B	Ender Inciarte - CF
Abraham Almonte - LF	Cliff Pennington - 2B
Tommy Medica - 1B	David Peralta - RF
Rene Rivera - C	Mark Trumbo - 1B
Rymer Liriano - RF	Miguel Montero - C
Chris Nelson - 3B	Alfredo Marte - LF
Cameron Maybin - CF	Jake Lamb - 3B
Alexi Amarista - SS	Didi Gregorius - SS
Andrew Cashner - RHP	Vidal Nuno - LHP

This will be relatively terse as far as previews go, since I got distracted by working on a piece about Trevor Cahill's season to date. It's going to be... lengthy. Perhaps bordering on the Strittmatteresque, for those who recall an alumni SnakePit writer who had a tendency to write amazing pieces to which, shall we say, Peter Jackson expressed an interest in the film rights. It may be up on Monday's off-day. But considering it's already at 1,100 words and I haven't even reached my intended focus yet... We'll see whether I can get much done tomorrow, though since it's SnakePitAsteroidFest (woo-hoo!), the answer is "probably not."

Anyway. Mr. Alt+0164 takes the mound for a ninth time, still looking for his first W. It's mostly been a lack of ran support: in the previous eight outings, the offense has never scored more than four runs, with the average being only 2.75. You have to be a very good pitcher to win with that kind of protection, and Nuño isn't that. He's not been bad, however: I'm still happy with the trade. While McCarthy may have been pitching up a storm in New York, it would have been useless here, and he's still still going to be a free-agent at the end of the season (which in NY's case, still looks like it'll be before the playoffs). I'll take five more years of Nuno over meaningless wins by Brandon.

Vidal Nuno took a shutout into the eighth, but still couldn't get a win. However, a three-run homer from Didi Gregorius broke a 2-2 tie and the Diamondbacks got their second consecutive win.

There's no doubt, Nuno certainly deserved a better fate. Through the first seven innings, he was efficient, quick and effective, giving up only one hit. However, he tired in the eighth, loading the bases with out before being lifted for Oliver Perez. The reliever got the second out, but then grooved an 0-2 pitch, which was returned back up the middle for a two-run single, tying the game. Both runs were charged to Nuno, but we can't complain about a 7.1 inning outing, with just two hits allowed, along with two walks and four strikeouts. Better luck in #10, Vidal.

As yesterday, the Diamondbacks offense got on the board in the first, Cliff Pennington singling home Ender Inciarte. In the bottom of the second, Jake Lamb got his first career home-run, a solo shot to put Arizona 2-0 up. However, that was it until the game was tied in the bottom of the eighth. With two on, the Padres' pitcher also grooved an 0-2 offering, and Didi Gregorius cranked it over the fence in left for a three-run homer, his sixth. Lamb and Inciarte had a pair of hits, and Addison Reed closed things out in the ninth for his 30th save.

Poor Vidal Nuño. It seems that taking a one-hit shutout into the eighth inning isn't quite enough to deserve a win. You're just going to have to take it all the way yourself, next time.

Record: 55-75. Pace: 69-93. Change on 2013/2010: -12/+3.

On the plus side, the Diamondbacks did score more runs in a Vidal Nuno start, than they have ever done before. Of course, the majority of those didn't come until after he had left the game, but baby steps here, people. As a result, he managed to avoid victory for the ninth consecutive start to open his Arizona career. That ties him with Willie Blair, who did it starting off the franchise back in 1998, though Nuño has pitched a damn sight better for Arizona than Blair: in his nine outings, he went 0-7 with a 5.82 ERA. The only longer winless opening streak belongs to Max Scherzer, who went 13 straight. But at least the D-backs did win in the end, after having lost Nuño's eight previous starts.

Things certainly started off in promising fashion. Nuño retired the Padres in order, and the Diamondbacks then took the lead before their first batter was retired. Ender Inciarte opened things up with a double to right, and Cliff Pennington singled past the first-baseman into right, to get the Diamondbacks on the board. More was to follow in the second, as Jake Lamb led things off by opening his home-run account in the major-leagues with a solo shot that went an estimated 392 feet into the pool area at Chase. [Random factoid: longest homerless streak to start a career with Arizona? 75 games by Alberto Callaspo]

Staked to a lead, Nuño worked quickly and efficiently through the next five innings. The only base-runners he allowed through the end of the seventh were a lead-off single in the third, stranded on second, and a one-out walk in the fourth, erased immediately when the next batter lined out back to the mound, allowing Vidal to flip the ball over to first and complete the double play. Better yet, he had been remarkably efficient doing it, requiring only 72 pitches to reach the 21st out. Having thrown 117 pitches in a game earlier in the season at Philadelphia, would this prove to be our second shutout of the season, Josh Collmenter having missed out last night?

The eighth inning, unfortunately, did not appear to have received the memo, and it looked a very different Nuño who came out in the bottom half. He hit the first batter faced then, after getting an out, allowed a single and a walk, loading the bases, still with only one down. Gibby was booed last night by the crowd at chase for pulling his starter in the ninth, but that was a very different situation. Here, the tying run was now on second-base, and we can;t blame Gibson for wanting to go to the pen. Still, Vidal deserved the standing ovation he received as he left, with a line of 7.1 IP, 2 H, 2 BB and no runs allowed... to that point.

Oliver Perez, unfortunately, did not appear to have received that memo. With a couple of left-handers up, he was the chosen option rather than Ziegler - which I can't say I mind too much, given how shaky Ziegler has been of late. Perez did get the first batter, but then caught far too much of the plate with an 0-2 pitch to the next one, and it was chopped back up the middle, just out of the reach of both Perez's lunge, and the gloves of our converging middle-infielders, for a two-run single. Vidal found himself once home dating No-Decision Nancy, the baseball cousin of Friend Zone Fiona.[Yeah, I know., 2011 called, they want their meme back]

Have I mentioned today what a shitty stat the W is? Today would be a fine example. Perez got the third out, and so became the pitcher of record, due to what happened in the bottom of the eighth. With the wonderfully-named Kevin Quackenbush on the mound (I don't normally bother naming opposing players, since we largely don't care - but I always have room for a Quackenbush), Alfredo Marte drew a walk. Lamb singled and Didi Gregorius then took advantage of an equally-misplaced 0-2 pitch, depositing it over the fence in right for a three-run homer. Seems that's all Didi does of late: since August 9th, he has had only one hit that didn't leave the park.

Addison Reed came in for the ninth, and closed out his 10th consecutive save opportunity (preston.salisbury now owes him dinner!), and 30th of the year. That's a fairly elite club of Arizona closer he just joined, being only the fifth to reach the mark after Gregg Olson (1998), Byung-Hyun Kim (2002), Jose Valverde (2007) and J.J. Putz (2011 + 2012). Inciarte and Lamb each ended the day with a pair of hits, while Miguel Montero reached base three times on a hit and two walks. Nice to win consecutive games: can we finish it off tomorrow and get three, for the first time since we swept the Cubs in the opening series after the All-Star break?

David Tennant: Didi Gregorius, +26.9%
Tom Baker: Nuño, +20.2%; Lamb, +11.9%
Paul McGann: Oliver Perez, -8.8%

50% better turnout in the Gameday Thread than last night, despite the lure of alternative televisual treats, as hinted at above. Paulnh, freeland1787 and AzDbackfanInDc were the three most active, with the others present as follows: Diamondhacks, GuruB, Jim McLennan, JoeCB1991, Makakilo, SongBird, Zavada's Moustache, asteroid, benhat, cheese1213, hotclaws, onedotfive, porty99, preston.salisbury and shoewizard. Comment of the Night to freeland:

Quackenbush was so shocked that he walked Marte that before he realized what happened the Dbacks scored 3 runs

"You don't win a war by digging a foxhole and sitting in it. You have to go out there and attack." ~ Bill Belichick

by freeland1787 on Aug 23, 2014 | 7:29 PMreply rec (2) flag actions

It's back at Chase tomorrow for the series finale, with Arizona going for the sweep, with former D-back Ian Kennedy going up against Chase Anderson. It is, of course, also going to be SnakePitAsteroidFest, so there'll be a bunch of us acting like fools in or around section 139. It should be a lot of fun. Expect an early game stream, since we'll be out the door around 10:30 am....

After clinching the series, can the Diamondbaqcks finish off the Padres with a sweep? The SnakePit will be in attendance at Chase Field this afternoon to see...

Ian Kennedy RHP, 9-11, 3.72

Chase Anderson RHP, 7-5, 3.71

Posting this extremely early, since we're about to head downtown to the Rose and Crown, to hang with a bunch of fellow SnakePitters for a bit, before heading over to the game at Chase. I think it's something like only the second contest I've attended at Chase this year, which gives you some idea. My enthusiasm for the team has generally been at a level where the hassle of driving downtown, parking, etc. is not negated by the potential entertainment of yet another home defeat. But when I get to hang with SnakePitters? Bring it on. Couple of beers, some decent food, random heckling of San Diego players.... Yep, looking forward to it.

Diamondbacks Line-up

1. Ender Inciarte, CF
   
2. Aaron Hill, 2B
   
3. David Peralta, RF
   
4. Mark Trumbo, 1B
   
5. Miguel Montero, C
   
6. Alfredo Marte, LF
7. Jake Lamb, 3B
8. Didi Gregorius, SS
9. Chase Anderson P

A win would tie our season-high winning streak! At, er... three. So, there's that. But I'm long past the stage where any genuine concern over the team results still exists. Be nice to see Anderson throw a no-hitter or something. Otherwise, let the dice fall where they may. We have a special guest quick recapper after the game, returning after a long absence, so stay tuned. Suddenly realized that, if a plane crashes on the Rose and Crown, we'll be in trouble, since myself, Clefo, soco and ish95 will all be there, so that'd be about two-thirds of regular recappers wiped out. Turambar is safe in Canada, but Steven Burt should probably head to the SnakePit bunker, just to be safe...

A couple of incredibly frustrating losses have our Padres hoping to salvage a win and avoid a sweep at Chase Field this afternoon.

Ian Kennedy will take the mound against his former team this afternoon to try to help our Friars avoid their fourth straight loss and make it a happy flight back home. Kennedy is 1-1 with a 6.06 ERA in three starts against Arizona since he was traded to SD over a year ago. Only one of those starts took place at Chase Field, where he surrendered six runs on six hours and five walks while lasting just 4 1/3 innings. The right had been pitching well since returning from the disabled list, but he struggled his last time out and gave up six runs in five innings en route to a loss to the Dodgers last Tuesday.

On the bump for the Diamondbacks will be Chase Anderson, who is coming off some recent success at home. In his last four starts at Chase Field he's gone 2-0 while posting a 1.88 ERA. He was also successful in a home start against our Padres back in May. He kept our offense to only one earned run on for his in five innings of work.

The finale gets underway at 1:10 PT.