Bill Center, longtime sportswriter for U-T San Diego, is an employee of the Padres.

Before the Padres open a six-game, Interleague road trip at Toronto and the New York Yankees and employ a designated hitter for the first time this season, let us look back on how San Diego swept a three-games series from Arizona while scoring on 10 runs on 22 hits.

Excellent starting pitching. Timely hitting. And Kirby Yates.

It’s that simple.

Over the three games, starting pitchers Chris Paddack, Matt Strahm and Eric Lauer allowed four runs on 13 hits and no walks with 16 strikeouts in 19 innings. That’s a 1.89 ERA and a 0.68 WHIP. But the number that really stands out -- no walks.

Monday's game was won on a two-run homer by Franmil Reyes. Tuesday's game swung on an RBI single by Manny Machado and two-run homer by Eric Hosmer. And again in Wednesday's game, it was a two-run hit by Hosmer that got the Padres on the board.

But it was the three saves by Yates in a span of 42 hours that capped the series.

Three perfect innings with six strikeouts for saves Nos. 18, 19 and 20 without a blown opportunity. He is the first Padres closer ever to post 20 saves in the season’s first 50 games.

In his last six outings, Yates has allowed one hit and one walk with 13 strikeouts in six innings. Over his last 10 innings, Yates has 24 strikeouts.

Notebook
• Hosmer has raised his batting average from .184 to .285 in the 29 games since April 20. He has hit safely in 25 of those 29 games, going 39-for-110 (.355) with six doubles, six homers, 20 RBIs, 18 runs scored and eight walks for a .398 on-base percentage and a .573 slugging percentage for a .971 OPS.

• Machado has hit safely in 19 of his last 21 games, going 24-for-78 (.308) with three doubles, five homers, nine runs scored, 14 RBIs and nine walks for a .371 on-base percentage and a .538 slugging percentage for a .909 OPS. He has raised his batting average from .235 to .267.

• Infielder Greg Garcia was 3-for-5 on Wednesday with a double, an RBI and two runs scored. Garcia is 13-for-44 in May with four doubles, six walks, eight runs scored and five RBIs for a .295 batting average, a .380 on-base percentage, a .386 slugging percentage and a .966 OPS. He has reached base in 14 of 17 games that he had a plate appearance.

• Catcher Austin Hedges is 5-for-10 with a double and a run scored in his last three games after going 5-for-46 in his previous 15 games dating back to April 23. He has raised his batting average from .162 to .193.