SAN DIEGO _ Clayton Richard saved an overtaxed bullpen Sunday afternoon. He had some help in putting an end to a five-game skid.
The offense rallied around Ryan Schimpf's game-tying home run in the fifth, Richard contributed with his first RBI of the season and then the 33-year-old veteran completed a game for the first time in his post-surgery career in a 5-1 win over the Diamondbacks in front of 27,198 on Sunday at Petco Park.
"You pull for a guy who's as quality of an individual as he is," Padres manager Andy Green said. "To have those moments when you've fought so hard back from surgery _ he had to go play for me in Double-A Mobile, Ala., to get back. To have those type of moments, you kind of know they are coming because of the type of guy he is, but it's fun to see."
It was especially timely Sunday.
After all, Jered Weaver hit the disabled list after allowing seven runs in 2/3 of an inning Friday and second-year right-hander Luis Perdomo gave up eight runs in three innings Saturday.
The bullpen rested comfortably Sunday afternoon.
Richard struck out six, didn't walk anyone in a second straight start and scattered five hits. He only paid for one of them _ Chris Iannetta lined a solo homer over the wall in right in the third _ and needed only 96 pitches to finish his first game since Aug. 8, 2012.
That was in his first stint with the Padres.
Richard has since undergone two surgeries on his left shoulder and bounced from the Diamondbacks to the Pirates to the Cubs before getting a second opportunity to start games for the Padres.
Given the state of the team _ the bullpen burning through more than 14 innings in the last two days of a five-game skid _ Richard knew Sunday was the optimal window to turn in his best start in nearly five years.
"That's what we're trying to do every game," said Richard, who recorded 10 groundball outs. "There's just a little more importance to it today with how the last couple of days went. I really wanted to be out there for as long as I could to give them a breather."
The support didn't hurt, either, as Richard needed only six pitches to get through the ninth after the Padres added insurances runs a half-inning earlier on Hunter Renfroe's bases-loaded tapper in front of the mound and Cory Spangenberg's sacrifice fly to center field.
Four innings earlier, it was a good, old-fashioned rally that ruined momentum for Arizona starter Zack Godley (7 IP, 3 ER), who'd faced the minimum when Schimpf led off the fifth with a solo homer to right.
The blast _ Schimpf's 10th of the year _ was the first of five hits in six plate appearances.
Some good fortune, for a change, helped.
Hunter Renfroe doubled and scored when center fielder Gregor Blanco couldn't pick up Austin Hedges' one-out single cleanly. Then Richard's seeing-eye single through the right side of the infield opened up a 3-1 lead that might have grown even larger with a few more bounces the Padres' way.
But Margot's bunt with Erick Aybar charging down the third base line bounced right into the hands of Iannetta, who reached backwards to tag Aybar for the second out of the inning. Then after Allen Cordoba's infield single loaded the bases, Myers was ruled out when a fan reached over the railing to catch a foul ball as Owings appeared to give up on the play heading into the right field corner.
"I have a problem with the call on the field because Chris Owings wasn't even looking at the baseball," Green said of an unsuccessful challenge. "He was trying not to run into the wall. Once (fan interference) is called on the field, the likelihood of getting it overturned is small. But I've got Wil Myers up with the bases loaded in a pivotal situation. If you're going to burn a challenge, you might as well burn one there to see if you've got a chance."
The out left Myers with just one RBI to show for four plate appearances with the bases loaded this year.
The Padres, nevertheless, managed enough damage in the fifth to snap a season-high five-game losing streak because they struck out just twice as a team after Diamondbacks pitchers fanned 19 batters the previous two nights.
"It's about having competitive at-bats and getting the next guy up there," said Hedges, who leads NL catchers with 20 RBIs. "We talked about it in the meeting today _ it's nine versus one. It's nine of us versus (the pitcher). Obviously, it's about you when you're in the box, but you're trying to grind to get on first base, work the pitcher, get his pitch count up, and I think we did a good job executing that today."
Added Green: "There's a lot to be said for putting the ball in play with two strikes. ... You put the ball in play, sometimes really good things happen. If you cut down on strikeouts, you have a lot more opportunity to win."
