Carpenter drives in 5, Padres beat Diamondbacks 7-5

PHOENIX -- — Yu Darvish felt his right hamstring tighten up and tried to stretch it out. Instead of relieving the pain, his left hamstring got tight as well.

No matter. The right-hander got some early run support and pitched well enough to help the San Diego Padres earn their second series win of the season.

Darvish pitched effectively into the sixth inning before leaving with leg cramps, and the Padres beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 7-5 on Sunday.

“I was trying to stretch it out on the mound and usually it releases it, but you know the cramp didn’t go away so that’s why I was taken out,” Darvish said through an interpreter.

Darvish (1-2) had the Diamondbacks beating balls into the ground most of the afternoon, allowing two hits in 5 2/3 innings before leaving two pitches into an at-bat by Pavin Smith.

Darvish got plenty of help from San Diego's offense, starting with a three-run first inning off Drey Jameson (2-1).

Matt Carpenter homered and drove in five runs. He hit a two-run double in the first, a solo homer in the fifth and a run-scoring double in the seventh that gave the Padres a 7-1 lead. He also had a sacrifice fly in the third.

Jake Cronenworth had two hits, scored twice and drove in two runs to close out San Diego's stretch of 17 straight games without a break.

“We’re starting to play a little bit better,” Padres manager Bob Melvin said. “I’ll tell you what, though: Everybody’s looking forward to this off date. It feels like we were about 50 games into the season already.”

Arizona rallied after Darvish left.

Alek Thomas and Nick Ahmed hit consecutive homers off Brent Honeywell in the seventh. Corbin Carroll scored on a groundout and Jake McCarthy followed with a solo homer off Tim Hill to pull the Diamondbacks within 7-5 in the eighth.

Josh Hader worked a perfect ninth inning for his eighth save in as many chances.

Darvish struck out 12 in seven innings against Milwaukee in his last start, but took the loss when he got no runs of support.

San Diego gave Darvish a lead before he even took the mound on Sunday. The Padres hit Jameson hard from the start, scoring in the first on Cronenworth's sacrifice fly and Carpenter's double to the base of the wall in center.

That was it for Jameson, who allowed three hits and walked three in the 43-pitch first inning.

Darvish didn't allow a hit until Ketel Marte's leadoff triple in the fourth inning. Evan Longoria followed with a sacrifice fly to make it 4-1, but Padres third baseman Manny Machado prevented another run from scoring with a diving catch on Smith's liner.

Darvish struck out five and walked five.

“The walks are not really what he does, but he only gave up two hits and that’s what Yu does," Melvin said.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Diamondbacks: 2B Christian Walker was out of the lineup after being hit by a pitch on the left forearm against the Padres on Saturday night.

Padres: LHP Drew Pomeranz is expected to make one more rehab start before the Padres look at activating him. He hasn't pitched in the majors since elbow surgery in 2021.

UP NEXT

Padres: San Diego gets its first off day since April 5 on Monday before LHP Blake Snell (0-3, 6.00 ERA) opens a three-game series at the Chicago Cubs.

Diamondbacks: LHP Tommy Henry will make his first start of the season Monday against Kansas City. He held Milwaukee to a run in 6 1/3 innings his last start on Oct. 2.

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