Padres try to avoid sweep in finale with D-backs
PHOENIX -- Arizona has the best home record in baseball, and it is not hard to see why.
When the Diamondbacks look for a three-game sweep against the San Diego Padres on Thursday afternoon, they will bring some gaudy home numbers to the park, starting with a 23-8 record, the most home wins and the best home winning percentage.
At Chase Field, the D-backs are first in the majors with 192 runs, 71 doubles, 551 total bases and a .503 slugging percentage. They are tied for second with the Milwaukee Brewers with 50 homers.
Arizona got two more homers in a 7-4 victory over the Padres on Wednesday, when Zack Greinke tied for the NL lead with his eighth victory and Jake Lamb jumped into the major league lead with 53 RBIs thanks to a three-run homer in the third inning. It was Arizona's first hit of the game off San Diego starter Luis Perdomo.
"We're very opportunistic," Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo said. "One of the traits of this team that I enjoy seeing is that they smell a little blood and they get an opening and they pound through that.
"We can hit home runs with the best of them, and that's the high side of things. But we can keep tacking on and building on innings and creating moments for us to score runs."
Arizona will send left-hander Patrick Corbin (4-6. 5.43 ERA) to the mound to oppose San Diego left-hander Clayton Richard (4-6, 4.36 ERA) in the matinee.
Corbin has a four-game winning streak at Chase Field and is 4-1 with a 3.27 ERA at home, but his season has been a tale of two distinct halves.
He was 2-3 with a 2.29 ERA and five quality starts in six April outings but has found tougher sledding since. Corbin has given up 51 hits and 31 earned runs in his past 31 innings over six starts while struggling with location.
After surrendering three homers in his first six starts, he has given up 11 in his past six.
"He's just having a miss or two in an inning when needs to make that pitch," Lovullo said. "Those are situations where pitchers and hitters alike, they just have moments when they miss.
"He's been around long enough to know that's part of the game. He's taking care of it on a daily basis. I feel very confident knowing Patrick is going to find his way out of this."
The Padres have three homers in the first two games of the series but have given up 17 runs while extending their losing streak to four games.
"If you are going to have to put up a touchdown to win, you are probably not going to win a lot of baseball games," Padres manager Andy Green said after the Wednesday loss.
Corbin and Richard have faced each other twice this season and are each 1-1. Richard gave up one run in 6 2/3 innings in a 4-1 victory over Corbin (six innings, three runs) on April 20. Corbin won the rematch five days later at Chase Field, allowing two runs in seven innings during an 8-2 victory. The D-backs knocked Richard out after 3 2/3 innings, and he was charged with six runs on eight hits.
Richard made another start against the D-backs on May 21, when he threw one of 11 complete games in the NL this season in a 5-1 victory at Petco Park.
Richard is 10-4 with a 3.92 ERA in 16 games against the D-backs in his career, and his game is tailored for hitter-friendly Chase Field. He has induced 140 ground balls, the most in the NL. His 59.1 percent ground-ball rate is the highest in the NL and fourth in the majors.
Corbin is 4-5 with a 3.38 ERA in 13 career games (eight starts) against San Diego.
