The Arizona Diamondbacks secured a 6-1 victory over the San Diego Padres on Tuesday night to pull within three games of the NL West lead.
The Diamondbacks jumped out to a lead early and only increased it as the night progressed. A triple by Kelly Johnson in the top of the second brought Willie Bloomquist home. A sacrifice fly by Justin Upton later on in the inning brought Johnson in and gave the Diamondbacks a 2-0 lead by the end of the second.
Upton kept up his recent hot streak, hitting a home run in the sixth inning to open up a 3-0 lead. The Diamondbacks would score thrice more, once later in the inning on a Ryan Roberts' pop fly, once in the following inning on a Johnson single and once on a walk in the ninth inning. The Padres did score once in the bottom of the ninth, but by then the outcome of the game had been decided.
Joe Saunders (7-8) pitched well, allowing just six hits with one walk and four strikeouts in eight innings. He got his first win in three starts after loses to the Milwaukee Brewers and the Los Angeles Dodgers.
The Diamondbacks moved to 56-47 on the season and are now three games back of the San Francisco Giants in the NL West after the Giants lost to the Phillies.