Diamondbacks 5, Padres 1: So maybe Nix isn’t the Chosen One

Okay, so tonight’s game was pretty bad. Jacob Nix didn’t even finish an inning in his second big league start. Clay Buchholz, who is somehow turning in one of the best seasons of his career, tossed a complete game and nearly shut out the Padres. The Friars only managed to put together five hits while failing to draw a single walk. And speaking of free passes, the hometown pitching staff gave up a whopping eight.

So let’s talk about the Mets. Yes, those Mets. The team that somehow, day in and day out, miraculously finds new ways to be bad. Those Mets? They scored 24 runs today. That’s nearly five times as many as Nix served up to Arizona tonight! If the New York Mets, Kings of the Screwup, can score two dozen runs, we can find something positive about tonight’s game.

So let’s fast forward past those five runs. Past the three-run shot by David Peralta, and past the two extra that scored on an Alex Avila single. After the D’backs batted around by sending old friend Jon Jay to the plate, and after Nix ended his night by beaning the veteran, Padres relievers shouldered the next eight and a third innings of work, and it was a giant improvement. That motley crew gave up just two hits, both of them singles, while fanning fourteen Zonies. Hell, if Green had just put Kazuhisa Makita on the mound to start the game, the Friars might have put together a win.

On the offensive side, Hunter Renfroe looked like he might be pulling out of the slump he’s been in for the last week. He grounded out to start the sixth, after entering the game in the top half of the frame. But in the eighth he took a 1-2 fastball right down the middle and sent it screaming over the center field fence, his thirteenth bomb of the year.

If the Padres can focus on that good stuff and do less of the bad stuff, they can even the series on Friday. First pitch at 7:10 PM.