James Shield Suffers First Loss, Padres Lose 4-2
- Updated: June 19, 2015
(Photo via Twitter User @BBTN)
The Padres were in Arizona tonight looking to build some momentum after finally beating Oakland and James Shields looked to remain unbeaten on the year. Unfortunately Shields struggled immediately out of the gates, giving up a hard hit double to AJ Pollock on his first pitch of the game. That would be a bad omen for Shield as he suffered his first loss on the season and the Padres lost 4-2.
Pollock scored soon after his leadoff double and the Diamondbacks led all night. Aaron Hill doubled in the second run for Arizona in the 3rd inning, and scored the third run immediately after on another double, this time by Wellington Castillo. Ahmed doubled in Castillo from 3rd. And the score was 4-0 after 3 innings.
Diamondbacks starter Ruby De La Rosa breezed through the first 4 innings but James Shields started a 2 out rally in the 5th, singling up the middle before Yangervis Solarte hit a solid line drive over the 2nd baseman and into to right field. Yonder Alonso came up to bat looking to continue the rally and drew a walk to load the bases for Justin Upton. Upton would also walk, and the Padres finally got on the board, but De La Rosa limited the damage by striking out Matt Kemp and continued cruising.
Perhaps inspired by the first offensive signs of life, Shields was able to hang in there and pitch well in the 5th and 6th innings. He finished with 6 innings pitched, 5 strikeouts, 4 walks and 4 earned runs giving up.
In the top of the 8th the Padres got runners on the corners with no outs thanks to a couple of infield errors. De La Rosa was taken out of the game at that point after throwing over 100 pitches. The Diamondbacks starter finished with 7 innings pitched, 6 strikeouts, 3 walks and just 1 run given up.
Against reliever Daniel Hudson, Derek Norris grounded into a fielder’s choice and Will Venable walked to load the bases for Cory Spangenberg who flied out to deep left field to score Justin Upton from 3rd. The Diamondbacks escaped the inning with a 4-2 lead after the recently called up Brett Wallace grounded out to 2nd.
A 9th inning rally resulted in a man on 2nd and 3rd with 2 outs for Matt Kemp, who had struck out three times previously in the game. Unfortunately he wasn’t able to end his game on a high note, as he grounded out to end the ball game.
The loss drops the Padres to 33-37. Andrew Cashner and Robbie Ray are the probable starters for the 2nd game of the series in Arizona tomorrow night.
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