Brandon Pfaadt's Strong Outing Backed by Homers in D-backs Win

The Arizona Diamondbacks beat the San Diego Padres 8-2 Wednesday night behind a brilliant outing from Brandon Pfaadt and a home run barrage from the offense. There was a push moment in the bottom of the eighth inning that put a punctuation mark on the victory.

Bench coach Jeff Banister and Torey Lovullo were having an intense conversation in the Diamondbacks' dugout. Brandon Pfaadt was doing something he had never done before in his career, which is pitch into the eighth inning.

The debate was whether or not to let Pfaadt face Fernando Tatis Jr. with two outs. Banister won the debate, Pfaadt stayed in, and struck out Tatis to end the inning.

Pfaadt gave up a leadoff double to Tatis to start the game, but then set down the next 13 batters. By the time it was over, he had allowed just two runs on four hits, including a solo homer, didn't walk a batter, and struck out four.

Pfaadt was efficient throughout, with the only serious base traffic coming in the fifth inning when the Padres scored their first run. Gavin Sheets hit a homer to start the seventh but Pfaadt retired the next six batters, shutting down the Padres completely.

James McCann got the offense started for the Diamondbacks with an upper deck homer in the third inning that traveled 434 feet. He's 7-for-20, .350 with two homers since joining the Diamondbacks. More importantly, he's appeared to bring a veteran, steadying presence to the pitching staff.

Eugenio Suarez hit his 29th homer of the year in the next inning, giving Pfaadt a couple of runs to work with. But it was in the fifth inning that the D-backs opened up the game.

Geraldo Perdomo came up with two outs and the bases loaded, and lined a grand slam to right field. It was his 10th homer of the year and his second grand slam. He now has 64 RBI.