 held the Diamondbacks to one run and four hits, struck out seven and walked none to win for the first time since April 8 at San Francisco. Since then he had three losses and three no-decisions. He allowed Eduardo Escobar's RBI double in the sixth before striking out the side in the seventh.Kirby Yates got the final three outs for his major league-leading 20th save after Adam Warren allowed a run.Eric Hosmer had a big two-run hit for the second game in a row, this time a single off rookie Merrill Kelly in the three-run first that gave Lauer all the support he needed. Garcia was aboard on a leadoff single. Rookie Ty France doubled in Hosmer.Hosmer hit a two-run homer off Zack Greinke to help the Padres to a 3-2 victory Tuesday night.Garcia also doubled in the second and scored on Manny Machado's sacrifice fly, and hit an RBI single in the third during a brief downpour that sent fans scurrying for cover.Garcia went to Valhalla High in suburban El Cajon and is the grandson of the late Dave Garcia, who was a coach on the Padres' staff in the 1970s and later managed the Angels and Indians. He was claimed off waivers from St. Louis on Nov. 6.The Padres roughed up Kelly (4-5) for four runs and five hits in 1 2/3 innings. He walked four and struck out none.Kelly beat the Padres 10-3 here on April 1.UP NEXTDiamondbacks: LHP Robbie Ray (3-1, 3.25) is scheduled to start Friday night in the opener of a three-game series at San Francisco.Padres: LHP Joey Lucchesi (3-3, 4.28) is scheduled to start the opener of a three-game series at Toronto on Friday. The Blue Jays are expected to start RHP Trent Thornton (1-4, 4.41).---More baseball: https://apnews.com/MLB and https://twitter.com/-Sports)
Lauer, Padres look for sweep of D-backsFLM"Sweep" isn't a word the San Diego Padres have heard much around Petco Park this season.They do have one home sweep -- a two-game interleague blitz of the Seattle Mariners on April 23-24. But the Padres' overall home record is 13-14 this season, and they lost three of four at Petco Park last weekend to the Pittsburgh Pirates.However, they go into the Wednesday afternoon finale of a three-game series against Arizona with a chance to sweep the Diamondbacks.The Padres set up those possibilities with back-to-back, one-run wins over Arizona -- 2-1 Monday night on Franmil Reyes' two-run homer and 3-2 Tuesday night on Eric Hosmer's two-run homer.In what could be a soggy Wednesday, the Padres will send out second-year left-hander Eric Lauer (2-4, 5.24 ERA) against Diamondbacks rookie right-hander Merrill Kelly (4-4, 4.21 ERA). Both pitchers will be making their 10th start of the season.Lauer, who was one of three first-round picks the Padres had in the 2016 draft, will be making his fifth career start against the Diamondbacks. Overall, the 6-foot-3, 23-year-old Lauer is 1-2 against Arizona with a 3.38 ERA, a 1.64 WHIP and a .344 opponents' batting average.He is 0-2 against the Diamondbacks in two starts this season, giving up seven runs on 17 hits and a walk with seven strikeouts in 10 innings for a 6.30 ERA and a 1.80 WHIP.Lauer allowed two runs (one earned) on seven hits in 5 2/3 innings in his most recent outing, Thursday against the Pirates."Eric's success is always predicated on his fastball command and his aggression and pitching ahead in the count," Padres manager Andy Green said. "That's always first and foremost with him. A truer mix at times is probably a beneficial thing, too."And he has to control his luck. There are always going to be times when a flare falls in. That's when you find a way to get out of it." Lauer threw a season-high 105 pitches vs. Pittsburgh while pitching more than five innings for only the fourth time this season."We need Lauer and (Joey) Lucchesi to start going deeper into games to take the extra workload off our bullpen," Green said.Kelly, 30, returned to the United State this season after pitching four seasons in South Korea.He made his big-league debut on April 1 against the Padres at Petco Park and picked up the win, allowing three runs on five hits and two walks with three strikeouts in six innings."That night will stick in my mind forever," Kelly said. "It was always a dream when I was in Korea to return and pitch in the major leagues. At times is looked pretty far away." He is 1-0 in two starts against the Padres this season, allowing seven runs on 13 hits and three walks with eight strikeouts in 11 innings for a 5.73 ERA and 1.46 WHIP.Overall, Kelly has allowed 55 hits and 18 walks with 40 strikeouts in 51 1/3 innings. He has a .271 opponents' batting average and a 1.42 WHIP.--Field Level Media
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