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Ray’s one-hit wonder, 13 K’s topple Padres
- Updated: August 21, 2016
SAN DIEGO — In the best start of his young career, Robbie Ray was nearly untouchable Saturday night, leading the D-backs to a 2-1 victory over the Padres at Petco Park.
Ray set a career-high with 13 strikeouts over seven frames, while allowing just one hit — a fifth-inning home run by Padres debutant Patrick Kivlehan.
“I was working really well in the bullpen before the game and everything was really downhill and working for me so I knew that today was going to be a pretty good day,” Ray said. “It was just a matter of executing.”
• Ray commands fastball, builds confidence
If not for Kivlehan’s fifth-inning blast, Ray could have potentially flirted with history. His stuff was certainly good enough. Instead, Kivlehan became the fifth Padre in history to go deep in his first big league game — and the first since Tommy Medica did so in 2013.
“It’s definitely something to remember,” Kivlehan said. “You know, definitely a great start. Kind of wish the ending would have been a little better, but all in all, a great night.”
Padres left-hander Clayton Richard matched Ray’s pitching prowess — only to be let down by his inability to field his position. Richard’s two throwing errors allowed a pair of unearned runs to score. Otherwise, he tossed six innings of two-hit ball without an earned run.
MOMENTS THAT MATTEREDDouble trouble: The D-backs had chances to tack on more runs against Richard, but double plays hampered their efforts. Arizona grounded into four double plays in four straight innings from the fourth through the seventh.
“You’ve got to give their pitcher [credit],” D-backs manager Chip Hale said. “Richard did a really good job. Kept the ball down, he obviously had some nasty movement. Thank God we were able to get some breaks with the errors. The guys were hustling and made the guy throw it away.”
Welcome to the show, kid: Kivlehan made certain his first big league hit wasn’t a cheapie. The 464-moonshot ricocheted off the …
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