Diamondbacks-Padres Recap: Daniel Hudson’s Return

Daniel Hudson’s return was the big moment of the D’backs-Padres series. Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

Only one thing really mattered in the four game series that was just split by the Arizona Diamondbacks and the San Diego Padres. That would be the sight of Daniel Hudson taking the mound in a D’backs’ uniform for the first time in over two years. Hudson endured two Tommy John surgeries and his remarkable and painful journey culminated in a 1-2-3 bottom of the eighth inning Wednesday night. For an excellent piece on Hudson’s improbable return, read this article by Jeff Passan at Yahoo Sports. The Snakes won the game 6-1 topping off a magical evening.

Live Feed

FanSided

As for the rest of the series, the D’back starting pitching continued its run of superb performances. The lone exception was Trevor Cahill‘s outing on Monday in which he allowed six walks in four innings, with the Padres taking the opener 3-1. This was the second consecutive poor start by Cahill after five straight quality ones. Wade Miley went seven strong innings on Tuesday only giving up one run but was still unable to secure the victory. Brad Ziegler surrendered Cory Spangenberg‘s first Major League home run in the bottom of the ninth inning, giving San Diego a 2-1 win. On Wendesday, the offense woke up to supply run support over the next two days. Josh Collmenter picked up his team-leading 10th victory by allowing one run over seven innings. Chris Owings‘ second game back resulted in an RBI and a run scored while David Peralta banged out his ninth triple of the year. Miguel Montero drove in his 70th run, taking over the club RBI lead from Paul Goldschmidt. The finale had Randall Delgado return to the rotation for the first time in five months. He delivered an excellent performance allowing no runs on only two hits in five innings of work. The shutout was ruined when Matt Stites loaded the bases in the eighth and Oliver Perez followed with a wild pitch. Arizona gained a split, winning the game by a score of 5-1.

Three D’backs who have missed long periods of time this season all made their return. Owings, Cody Ross and A.J. Pollock all played this week with Pollock having a tremendous return on Thursday going 3 for 4. In fact, every D’back regular had a hit in the game, 13 of them in all. Thursday’s game also had a new look infield of Owings at second, Didi Gregorius at shortstop and Aaron Hill and third base. Hill adjusted well to his new position by making a nice, diving catch on a line drive off the bat of Rene Rivera. Vidal Nuno had his scheduled start pushed back to Friday as the D’backs implement their plan to go with a six man rotation.

Arizona heads up the coast to Los Angeles to begin a three game series against the Dodgers. First pitch is scheduled for Friday at 7:10 PM MST.