Padres 7, Diamondbacks 2: Cashner goes snake hunting

One of the most frustrating and inexplicable parts of this season has been Andrew Cashner's sudden decline. But tonight he looked a lot more like the Cash we'd come to know and love, as he held the Diamondbacks to two runs on eight hits in seven innings of work. He even got in on the action offensively when he picked up an RBI single in the sixth. It helped that he had the most run support he'd seen in almost two years, with all but one position player providing a hit or an RBI tonight.

The game started off on the wrong foot, with Alexi Amarista bobbling a hit my Nick Ahmed. Cashner wasn't fazed, getting A.J. Pollock out on a line drive in foul territory, before wrapping up the inning by picking up a double play off Paul Goldschmidt. There was a downside to the play, though: Ahmed's takeout slide eventually caused Cory Spangenberg to be removed from the game with a sprained left knee.

The Padres hit Jeremy Hellickson early and often tonight. Matt Kemp was the first to do damage, with a leadoff double into the left field corner. Yonder Alonso brought him home with a one out single, and then Justin Upton moved him over to third with a single to center. Derek Norris grounded out to shortstop, but it was enough to bring Alonso home and put the Friars up 2-0.

Cash struggled a bit in the second when David Peralta and Yasmany Tomas led off the inning with back to back singles. He struck out Jarrod Saltalamacchia, but Jake Lamb followed up with another single to load the bases. Another K form Chris Owings and a grounder to short from Hellickson ended the threat cleanly. The third didn't go nearly as well, when Goldschmidt, Peralta, and Tomas hit back-to-back-to-back two-out doubles to tie the game. But that was all the snakes got off Cashner, who only allowed two more hits over the next four innings.

The Padres broke the tie in the fifth. With two outs, Alonso knocked a ground rule double over the left field fence to bring Upton to the plate. The left fielder took Hellickson deep, putting the ball cleanly into the Jack Deck. That was all they got in the fifth, but they threw up some more insurance in the sixth. Will Venable and Clint Barmes led off with back to back singles, and Barmes went all the way to third on Venable's hit. Alexi Amarista flew out to bring Cashner to the plate, and Pat Murphy called for a suicide squeeze. Venable slid into home cleanly under the tag, and everybody was safe. Kemp brought Barmes in with his second hit of the night, and Yangervis knocked in the seventh run with a single to right field. With a solid lead, two perfect innings of relief from Marcos Mateo and Kevin Quackenbush cemented a series win for the good guys.

Odrisamer Despaigne gets the start tomorrow as the Padres go for the sweep. First pitch is at 1:10 PM.