Padres 4, Diamondbacks 3: Yonder Alonso Stops The Bleeding

After a pair of embarrassing losses, Yonder Alonso finally turned things around. He had some help from Chris Denorfia and Rene Rivera, who knocked in the other three San Diego runs. Also on the afternoon's list of top performers was Tyson Ross, who allowed one earned run in his seven innings of work.

The Padres got on the board first in the third inning. Jace Peterson took one for the team to reach first before moving to second on Ross's bunt. Jace hustled in for the first run courtesy of Denorfia's line drive to right field. The Diamondbacks answered back immediately as Paul Goldschmidt homered in the top of the fourth. Ross retired the next two batters and was poised to finish the inning without any more damage when Cody Ross reached first on Everth Cabrera's error. A pair of singles from Ender Inciarte and Tuffy Gosewisch (I swear I didn't make that name up) brought Ross and Enciarte two unearned runs. Arizona didn't hold the lead for long. A pair of singles from Cameron Maybin and Will Venable set the stage for Rene Rivera. With two outs, Rivera doubled to left, scoring both baserunners to knot the game at three.

There was no more scoring until the bottom of the ninth. Maybin led off the inning, but was called out on a grounder to second. Bud Black challenged successfully, putting the winning run on first with nobody out. After Venable struck out, Rivera picked up his second double of the night to move Maybin to third. With one out, Alonso just needed a weak ground ball to send the speedy Maybin home. And that's how the Padres avoided being swept by the Diamondbacks.

Eric Stults opens the series against the Royals tomorrow at 7:10 PM. He'll face the red-hot Yordano Ventura.

Conor42 led the comments and tied for the recs lead with abara at 2. I know it was Sunday, but up your game tomorrow, folks.