PHOENIX — Before the pitchers they brought in to save the season get to work, the Padres got a lift from someone who has been around all along.
Randy Vásquez, who had recently been banished to the bullpen months after a strong start to the season, worked six scoreless innings Tuesday in a 9-4 victory over the Diamondbacks.
“Coming into the game, I think we kind of had a feeling Randy was feeling good about himself,” Manny Machado said. “He wanted to prove something.”
The victory got the Padres back to within one game of Arizona in the National League wild-card chase, and it probably got Vásquez closer to a return to the starting rotation.
“Yeah, I think so,” manager Craig Stammen acknowledged. ” He wants to prove that he deserves to be in the rotation. I think Randy wants to start. … Randy has been very determined to put his best foot forward in this situation, and he has.”
The 24-year-old right-hander allowed two hits and walked a batter en route to turning in the first quality start by a Padres pitcher since July 22 and the first by a pitcher other than Michael King since Walker Buehler allowed one run in six innings on June 3.
It was Vásquez’s fourth time going at least six innings without allowing a run this season. His last time to do so was May 15. In his eight starts after that, he had a 7.75 ERA. And when he returned on July 19 from an IL stint that had been precipitated by a line drive off his ankle, he was pitching out of the bullpen. It was quite a fall from having ranked 12th in the NL with a 2.68 ERA nine starts into his season.
Vásquez had allowed three runs over 11 innings over his four appearances leading up to Tuesday. He made one start in that span as a sort of glorified opener, allowing a run in 2⅔ innings on July 25 at Miami. In his most recent appearance, he worked 4⅔ scoreless innings at the end of a loss to the Giants on Thursday.
His recent performances has people in the organization talking about him as the favorite to rejoin the rotation among the starters exiled to the bullpen last month when the Padres drastically shifted their pitching strategy.
Vásquez’s job on Tuesday was made easier by the offense jumping on Diamondbacks starter Eduardo Rodriguez for six runs in the first two innings.
Vásquez was able to throw strikes and essentially play goalie when he was given a 3-0 lead before he took the mound and 6-0 lead before he did so a second time.
“I felt very good,” said Vásquez, who threw a first-pitch strike to 16 of the 20 batters he faced and went to three balls against just one batter. “That run support early in the game was a big part of the win today. I was able to trust my pitches more and primarily stick to attacking hitters.”
The Padres increased their lead to eight with a run in the sixth and another in the seventh.
That is when Stammen turned the game over to pitcher Germán Márquez, who allowed a pair of two-run homers in the seventh before Bradgley Rodriguez and Griffin Canning both worked a scoreless inning to finish the game.
The team’s attempt to piece together nine innings at a time on days King or Buehler weren’t starting was a means to getting to Monday’s trade deadline.
On Monday, the Padres acquired Robbie Ray from the Giants and Casey Mize from the Tigers. Mize will start Wednesday against the Diamondbacks and Ray on Friday at home against the Astros.
They can only hope to get a semblance of the support Vásquez did on Tuesday.
More of that is what the Padres need as well.
Unable (and unwilling) to accomplish their secondary aim of adding a left-handed bat on Monday, the Padres are riding with the offense that got them this far.
It has been a much better group for going on two months.
The Padres entered Tuesday having hit .261 with a .339 on-base percentage over their previous 49 games dating to June 8. In that time, their average of 4.7 runs a game ranked 11th. That compares with them ranking 30th out of 30 in virtually every offensive category in the 64 games before that.
Tuesday was the 20th time in 50 games they scored at least six runs. They had done so 16 times before that.
But it has been a long time since they were as good as early in a game.
Tuesday was the first time since Aug. 23, 2024, that a Padres team had at least eight hits in the first two innings of a game.
They entered Tuesday having scored the fourth-fewest runs in the major leagues in the first two innings of games.
Fernando Tatis Jr. got them started Tuesday when he sent Eduardo Rodriguez’s third pitch of the game at 106 mph bouncing past third baseman Nolan Arenado and down the left-field line for a double.
Machado’s double drove in his first run, and two-out singles by Merrill and Xander Bogaerts made it 3-0.
Jake Cronenworth and Jase Bowen began the second inning with singles before a grounder by Tatis erased Cronenworth and Luis Rengifo appeared to have at least made the second out and possibly ended the inning with his grounder.
But second baseman Ketel Marte bobbled the ball, which loaded the bases for Machado to drive in two more runs with a single. Merrill singled with two outs to get Machado home.
Rodriguez (10-4, 2.71) had thrown 56 pitches to that point and was at 92 when he went out for the sixth inning, which he almost finished.
But two-out Singles by Rengifo and Machado, with a stolen base in between, ended his night and increased the Padres’ lead to 7-0.
Merrill’s single, a walk by Bogaerts and a double by Freddy Fermin brought in another run in the seventh.
Two-run homers by Arenado and James McCann got the Diamondbacks to 8-4. And as Bradley Rodriguez hurriedly warmed up in the bullpen after a single by Ryan Waldschmidt, pitching coach Ruben Niebla visited the mound before leadoff batter Corbin Carroll stepped in to face Márquez and grounded out to end the inning.
The Padres’ final run came in the ninth when Jake Cronenworth’s third single drove in Sung-Mun Song, who had walked and advanced to second on a single by Fermin.
The Padres had 16 hits a night after having six in a 5-1 loss in the series opener.
“Obviously last night was not the greatest game offensively after we’ve played the last month, month-and-a-half of (good) offense,” Jake Cronenworth said. “It’s going to happen. … I think tonight was just a great all-around example of what it looks like from the first pitch.”