Luis Arraez hit two doubles and a triple, while Yu Darvish pitched 5 1/3 strong innings as the San Diego Padres defeated the struggling Arizona Diamondbacks 5-3 on Friday night.
The Padres had already secured a spot in the postseason earlier this week and have now clinched the No. 4 position in the National League. This means they will host a best-of-three Wild Card Series next week in San Diego.
“It’s amazing,” said outfielder Fernando Tatis Jr. “Can’t wait for that energy at Petco. The fans are going to be crazy, and it’ll be a great atmosphere.”
The Diamondbacks (88-72) are just behind the Mets (87-71) and Braves (87-71) in a close race for the final two NL wild cards. The D-backs, who have lost four of their last five games, have a slightly lower winning percentage.
Atlanta and New York have played two fewer games because Hurricane Helene canceled two games in their important series earlier this week. If playoff standings are still unclear, the teams will play a doubleheader on Monday in Atlanta.
The Mets and Braves have tiebreakers over the defending NL champion Diamondbacks if they end up with the same record, as Arizona lost the season series against both teams.
Arraez, with a batting average of .314, is competing for the NL batting title against Shohei Ohtani (.309) and Marcell Ozuna (.308). If he wins, it would be his third batting title in three years with three different teams, something that has never been done in MLB history.
The Padres can rest their regular players over the next two days, but manager Mike Shildt mentioned that it might be hard to keep Arraez out of the lineup since he is one hit away from 200 for the season.
“We’ll talk to him,” Shildt said. “I know Louie — he’s going to want to play and get that 200 and add on to what he’s doing. He’s a warrior and a competitor. But we also need to make sure he feels good and is healthy.”
Darvish (7-3) allowed three runs on three hits, walked three batters, and struck out four.
The Diamondbacks tried to make a comeback in the ninth inning when Corbin Carroll walked with one out, but Robert Suarez struck out Ketel Marte and got Alek Thomas to ground out, ending the game. This was Suarez’s 36th save out of 42 opportunities.
The Padres never fell behind, starting strong with a 4-0 lead in the first inning after Merrill Kelly gave up four hits, one walk, and hit a batter.
Manny Machado hit an RBI single that got past Marte at second base, and rookie Jackson Merrill added another run-scoring single, putting the Padres ahead 2-0.
Marte made an error while trying to turn a double play, which allowed Machado to score, and David Peralta then hit an RBI single to make it 4-0. Machado leads the team with 105 RBIs this season.
“It’s part of the game,” Kelly said. “At that point, we still had plenty of chances to win the game. My job is to pick them up. Everybody’s trying their hardest. Mistakes happen.”
Both Merrill and Peralta had two hits each.
The Diamondbacks reduced the deficit to 4-2 in the bottom of the first with Carroll’s solo home run and Lourdes Gurriel Jr.’s sacrifice fly. They closed the gap to 5-3 in the sixth on Eugenio Suárez’s RBI single, but Jeremiah Estrada managed to get out of the difficult situation.
“I think I felt a little stiff in the first inning,” Darvish said through a translator. “It was a little longer inning for me, so that maybe helped me loosen up a little. Starting in the second, I felt pretty normal.”
This win marked Darvish’s 203rd as a professional pitcher, with 110 wins in the United States and 93 in Japan.
He now ties Hiroki Kuroda for the most professional wins for a Japanese-born pitcher in both countries. Kuroda played in the big leagues for seven years with the Dodgers and Yankees from 2008 to 2014.
