Grisham Leads Padres Past Diamondbacks in Tatis’ Return

Trent Grisham of the Padres batting against the Diamondbacks

Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images

April 21, 2023

Padres 7, Diamondbacks 5

PHOENIX, Apr. 20 — Trent Grisham went 2-for-3 with two doubles, four RBI, a walk, and a run-saving diving catch to lead the San Diego Padres — who scored the two go-ahead runs after a costly error — past the Arizona Diamondbacks, 7–5, in Fernando Tatis Jr.’s return to the majors Thursday night at Chase Field. Tatis came back after a 564-day hiatus due to a combination of injuries and a PED suspension, going 0-for-5 with two strikeouts.

Padres Take Early Lead over Diamondbacks

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Ryne Nelson struck out the side in order in the top of the first, while Michael Wacha pitched around two singles to strand the runners in the bottom half. The top of the second was a different story. It began with a pair of one-out walks to Padres first baseman Jake Cronenworth and designated hitter Matt Carpenter. After second baseman Ha-Seong Kim struck out, center fielder Trent Grisham ripped a double to the gap in right-center, scoring both runners to give the Padres a 2–0 lead.

The Diamondbacks got one of those runs back in the bottom of the second. With one out, center fielder Alek Thomas doubled to left. He scored on a two-out triple by second baseman Geraldo Perdomo. But the Padres made it a 4–1 game in the top of the third after a one-out walk by left fielder Juan Soto and a two-run homer with two outs by shortstop Xander Bogaerts. The Diamondbacks threatened in the bottom of the third after a one-out double by Christian Walker, but the diving catch by Grisham robbed catcher Gabriel Moreno of a certain two-out RBI that would have made the score 4–2. To further rub salt in the wound for the Diamondbacks, a leadoff homer to right by Carpenter in the top of the fourth extended the lead to 5–1.

Diamondbacks Tie It Up before Costly Error

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But the Diamondbacks broke through against Padres starter Michael Wacha in the bottom of the fourth. Thomas led off with a single to right and advanced to second on a groundout to third by shortstop Nick Ahmed. Perdomo singled to center and advanced to second on the throw home, which held Thomas at third. Third baseman Josh Rojas brought both runners home with a single to left, advancing to second when Soto tried to throw Perdomo out at the plate. Designated hitter Lourdes Gurriel Jr., up next, scored Rojas with a double to left. As Corbin Carroll batted, a pair of wild pitches brought Gurriel in with the tying run.

Neither starter made it deep in the game, Wacha lasting four innings while Nelson lasted five. In the top of the sixth, left-hander Kyle Nelson took the mound for the Diamondbacks to relieve his fellow Nelson. After a leadoff single to center by Bogaerts and a called strikeout by Cronenworth, Padres manager Bob Melvin sent up Nelson Cruz to pinch-hit for Carpenter. A grounder to short had all the makings of a side-retiring double play, but the normally sure-handed Ahmed had it kick off the heel of his glove as he tried to backhand it. With both runners safe on the error, Kim popped to second. That brought up Grisham, who ripped a deep fly to the warning track in center, inches beyond the outstretched glove of a sprinting Thomas. Both runners scored to make it 7–5 Padres.

Lights-Out Relief Seals Fate

Rojas led off the bottom of the sixth with a single to left and advanced to second on an errant pickoff throw to first. A Gurriel fly to deep left moved Rojas to third, but a Carroll fly to the shortstop in shallow center and Walker strikeout left Rojas stranded. Tim Hill, Steven Wilson, and Josh Hader pitched perfect innings in the seventh, eighth, and ninth, respectively, to finalize the score at 7–5.

Capitalize on What’s Done Right, Work on Aspects That Need It

Manager Torey Lovullo summed up his observations postgame. “We fought hard today and found ourselves right back in this game with some quality at-bats. Building some innings, capitalizing at the right time, some heads-up base running. It was frustrating the way we ended up losing this game. The feeling that I’m getting each time we go out there and play for nine innings is we’re doing a lot of things right. And I want to continue to capitalize on those.”

Lovullo said the team will “continue to create some awareness” with the aspects they need to improve. “We’re an unbelievable defensive team. Something happened tonight that you don’t see very often. We don’t make the play defensively, and it hurts us. Those are the little things that I know that we take a lot of pride in, and we will tighten it up. If there’s one guy that will go ahead and address it the right way, it is Nick Ahmed. It just shows that he’s human. Like I said, it doesn’t happen very often. You hate to see it be the difference in the game, but unfortunately, it showed up that way.”

Areas to Improve

“But there were some things, besides that, that I thought we could have done a little bit better. We left some meat on the bone, left some runners out there (in) scoring position, less than two outs. It’s hard to hit in those situations. But to get to where we’re going, we’ve got to be better at it. We did an incredible job of building some innings (but) just couldn’t strike to get ahead. I think if we did, it would have been a different thing. We could have maneuvered a little bit differently in the bullpen.

Pitching

“Ryne Nelson was efficient. He was very aggressive early but made a couple of mistakes at the wrong time. His line score, for me, looked a little bit worse than it actually was. He was repeating his delivery on his fastball. It was landing. There was a lot of velo on it. Then I thought the bullpen did a great job. We just came up a little bit short. But we fought, and I’m really proud of that. We’ve got to turn the page and come out here tomorrow.”

Looking Ahead

Brent Honeywell Jr. (2–0) earned the win, while Kyle Nelson (3–1) took the loss, both in relief. Hader notched his sixth save of the season.

The Padres (10–11) and Diamondbacks (11–9) will play the second bout of their four-game series Friday. Seth Lugo (2–0, 2.70 ERA) will take the hill for the Padres against Zac Gallen (2–1, 3.33 ERA) of the Diamondbacks in a battle of right-handers. It can be viewed on Bally Sports San Diego, Bally Sports Arizona, or — outside those two home markets — on MLB Network. First pitch will be at 6:40 pm Arizona Time.

Review of the road trip to Miami and St. Louis plus the Padres series preview