D-backs take game, series as offense keeps on rolling

PHOENIX -- Some home cooking must have been all the D-backs needed to get their offense going.

After a dreadful 2-8 road trip in which they scored more than two runs only twice, the D-backs wrapped up a three-game series victory against the Padres with an 8-6 victory at Chase Field on Sunday. In the three contests against San Diego, Arizona averaged nearly eight runs per game.

"It's nice to score runs," Miguel Montero said. "It's always nice to come up and hit and find somebody on base. I guess it kind of gets you a little more motivated to go out and get a base hit."

Similar to their 10-4 win Saturday, the D-backs' runs came in bursts Sunday.

Trevor Cahill fell into a 2-0 hole after three innings, but Padres starter Odrisamer Despaigne gave those runs right back in the bottom of the third.

The D-backs got on the board with a Chris Owings RBI single and scored two more on a hit from Mark Trumbo, though one of those came on an assist from the Padres' defense.

Owings scored easily on the hit, and catcher Yasmani Grandal ran up toward the third-base side of the pitcher's mound to grab the ball to try to throw out Trumbo, who was trying to advance to second.

A.J. Pollock, who had reached on a walk and moved to third on the single, saw the throw and darted home. Neither Grandal nor Despaigne were covering the plate, allowing Pollock to score the go-ahead run.

"They had a high throw come in the infield, and everybody tried to advance on that," manager Kirk Gibson said. "A.J. did a good job at third recognizing that Grandal was in front of the plate and the pitcher was behind the plate."

The D-backs tacked on two more in the inning, taking a 5-2 lead against a Padres offense that has struggled all season.

"[Despaigne] had a rough inning," Padres manager Bud Black said. "They strung some hits together and he just couldn't get that third out. That inning got away from him."

But the Padres managed to keep the game close. They scored two more runs in the fourth, cutting short Cahill's day. He finished with only four innings pitched while allowing four runs on five hits.

"I think after that inning, they got five, I tried to go out there and maybe be too fine because I was really trying to go one-two-three and get back in there," Cahill said.

Fortunately for the D-backs, they were able to add three insurance runs in the eighth and their long-relief crew picked up the slack. Zeke Spruill pitched three scoreless innings while allowing only one hit. But after him, the bullpen ran into a spot of trouble.

Will Harris pitched out of a bases-loaded jam by notching two strikeouts, and Addison Reed gave up three runs in the ninth.

However, the bullpen did hang on to seal the victory and give Spruill his first Major League win.

"He kept himself out of trouble," Gibson said. "He was just the opposite of Trevor."

"I don't really know how to describe it. This is all I can do right now," Spruill added, pointing to his smile.