Arenado homers, Kelly pitches 7 strong innings as Diamondbacks beat Padres 3-1 to split series

SAN DIEGO (AP) — Nolan Arenado homered and moved closer to 2,000 hits, and Merrill Kelly combined with two relievers on a three-hitter for the Arizona Diamondbacks, who beat the San Diego Padres 3-1 on Thursday night to split a four-game series.

The Diamondbacks and Padres are jockeying for second place in the NL West, well behind the two-time defending champion Los Angeles Dodgers. Arizona popped back into a tie with San Diego, 14 1/2 games behind the idle Dodgers.

Arenado homered to left field off Yuki Matsui with two outs in the sixth, his 11th of the season and 364th of his 14-year career. He’s six shy of becoming the sixth active player to reach 2,000 hits. He’s in his first season with Arizona after spending five with St. Louis and his first eight with Colorado.

The Southern California native has 17 homers at Petco Park, the most by a visiting player. He’s reached base safely in 25 of his last 26 games at the downtown ballpark since Sept. 1, 2018.

Kelly (7-8) quieted the Padres a night after they won 10-4. He held San Diego to one run and three hits in seven innings, with six strikeouts and three walks. Kevin Ginkel pitched a perfect eighth and Paul Sewald a perfect ninth for his 21st save.

Kelly’s only big mistake was allowing Manny Machado’s homer to right leading off the second. It was Machado’s 19th overall and fifth in 11 games. Machado was back in the lineup after sitting out Wednesday, a night after fouling a ball off his left big toe.

Geraldo Perdomo’s RBI single with two outs in the fifth gave Arizona a 2-1 lead and chased starter Griffin Canning (1-7). A wild pitch by Canning brought in Arizona’s first run, in the fourth.

Up next

Diamondbacks LHP Eduardo Rodriguez (7-3, 2.25 ERA) is scheduled to start opposite Dodgers RHP Shohei Ohtani (8-2, 1.79) on Friday night in Los Angeles. Padres LHP JP Sears (2-1, 4.70 ERA) is scheduled to start against Toronto at home on Friday night.

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