EditorsNote: Tweaked 1st graf, deleted "walks" in 4th graf, other minor edits
Merrill Kelly shut out San Diego on two hits over seven innings Friday night, and the visiting Arizona Diamondbacks scored seven times in the eighth to pull away for a 9-0 rout of the Padres.
The win kept alive Arizona's fading hopes for a playoff berth. The Diamondbacks (79-75) trail the Milwaukee Brewers (84-70) by five games for the second National League wild card with eight games remaining.
However, the Diamondbacks will be without All-Star Ketel Marte for the rest of the season. The team decided to shut down Marte, who was hitting .329 with 32 homers, due to lower back inflammation.
In his fifth start of the season against the Padres, Kelly (12-14) walked three and struck out nine.
The Padres didn't get a hit until Luis Urias' opposite-field single to right with two out in the fifth. San Diego's Greg Garcia singled in the sixth. Four of the last five outs recorded by Kelly came on strikeouts.
Kelly and relievers Yoan Lopez and Jimmie Sherfy allowed a total of three hits and three walks while fanning 12.
Padres' fielding lapses played a factor in both innings in which the Diamondbacks scored.
Christian Walker drew a walk to open the Arizona second and moved to second on a Wilmer Flores single. Adam Jones then hit a potential double-play grounder to second baseman Garcia, but Flores beat the throw to second and Jones beat the relay to first. Carson Kelly followed with a one-out, two-run single to left off Padres starter Eric Lauer.
Lauer (8-10) took the loss despite allowing only two runs on two hits and four walks with nine strikeouts over six innings.
Walker opened the eighth against Padres reliever Trey Wingenter with a double, and he scored on Jones' one-out single. After Wingenter hit Nick Ahmed with a pitch, Carson Kelly hit a grounder to third baseman Manny Machado, who failed in an attempt to tag out Jones coming into third, leaving the bases loaded.
One out later, pinch hitter Abraham Almonte drew a bases-loaded walk from Wingenter. Josh Rojas then greeted left-hander Nick Margevicius with a three-run double, and Flores hit a two-run single off Gerardo Reyes.
--Field Level Media
