Villanueva’s pinch-hit single sends Pads past D-backs…

Pinch hitter Christian Villanueva singled home Travis Jankowski from second with two out in the bottom of the ninth Saturday night to give the San Diego Padres a 7-6 walk-off victory over the visiting Arizona Diamondbacks that snapped a five-game losing streak.

Jankowski opened the ninth by drawing a leadoff walk from left-handed Arizona reliever Andrew Chafin and moved to second on Eric Hosmer’s one-out grounder to first.

Right-hander Yoshihisa Hirano entered and intentionally walked Hunter Renfroe to bring up Villanueva, who didn’t start Saturday after getting hit on the left foot Friday night. Villanueva dropped a single into left to easily score Jankowski.

The loss reduced Arizona’s lead over Colorado in the National League West to a half-game.

Right-hander Craig Stammen, who worked two perfect innings of relief for the Padres, improved to 6-2 with the win. Chafin fell to 1-4 with the loss.

Paul Goldschmidt tied the game at 6-6 in the top of the seventh with his fourth hit, a single that drove home A.J. Pollock for his fourth RBI.

The top four hitters in the Arizona lineup combined for 11 hits and had a hand in all six Diamondbacks runs.

Arizona scored in the first for the third straight game, getting two runs on a double by Pollock and a single by Goldschmidt. The Diamondbacks stretched the lead to 3-0 on Goldschmidt’s RBI single in the third.

The Padres tied the game with three runs in the fourth. The scoring plays were a two-run, bases-loaded single by Freddy Galvis and a sacrifice fly by Manuel Margot.

Arizona regained the lead with two runs in the top of the fifth on a sacrifice fly by Pollock and a RBI double by Goldschmidt.

But the Padres scored three runs again in the bottom of the fifth — marking the first time they had scored three runs in back-to-back innings since April 3 — to take their first lead in five games at 6-5. Jankowski and Wil Myers opened the inning with singles. Eric Hosmer doubled home Jankowski. Cory Spangenberg and Austin Hedges followed with back-to-back RBI singles.

Arizona starter Zack Godley gave up six runs on eight hits and four walks with seven strikeouts in five innings. Padres southpaw Clayton Richard allowed five runs on nine hits with three strikeouts in five innings.

–Field Level Media