SAN DIEGO_A fluttering change-up found the end of Gregor Blanco's bat. The ensuing 45 mph roller found the vacated side of the San Diego Padres' infield. Jered Weaver found nothing amusing about an unlucky start to an evening that unraveled from there.
At least it did not last long.
The 34-year-old veteran allowed four more hits after Blanco's roller to start the game. Two of them left the yard before Weaver exited to a mix of boos and applause early Friday night, the Padres well on their way to a 10-1 loss without the beleaguered right-hander recording a third out in the shortest non-injury-shortened start of his 12-year career.
There will be talk that this is Weaver's last, too, as was the case in his previous Petco Park appearance.
The first-inning home runs served up to Jake Lamb and Brandon Drury pushed his season total to 16, tied with the Astros' Mike Fiers for the most allowed in the majors.
After allowing seven runs on five hits and two walks in 2/3 of an inning, Weaver's ERA is a robust 7.44 through his first nine starts _ all Padres losses for a team hoping he'd at least eat innings for his modest $3 million contract.
At times, Weaver, low-80s fastball and all, has.
Weaver, at one point, turned in three straight quality starts. He added another Sunday, allowing a season-low one run over six innings in Chicago just days after Executive Chairman Ron Fowler said the three-time All-Star was "on a short leash."
In between, Weaver allowed 22 earned runs in a three-start stretch (12 2/3 innings) that had the soft-tossing right-hander admitting he'd "find myself on the couch" without a turnaround.
After an adjustment on the mound _ moving from the third base side of the rubber toward first base _ the hope was Sunday's entry was the start of that turnaround.
It was not.
With Fowler seated in his front-row seats, Weaver recorded a popup after Blanco's roller, then walked Paul Goldschimdt before Lamb yanked a 424-foot blast to right for a 3-0 lead, the first of his two homers.
Only a fan heaving the souvenir back onto the field halted the first boos of the night, although they returned in force two batters later when Drury followed Yasmany Tomas' ensuing walk with a two-run homer to left-center.
Pitching coach Darren Balsley's first mound visit didn't come until Chris Owings' double over Manuel Margot's head in center field.
After former Angels batterymate Jeff Mathis grounded out to second, Green finally yanked Weaver to a chorus of applause after pitcher Taijuan Walker rolled a single through the infield to open up a 6-0 lead.
The inning wasn't over.
Rule-5 rookie Miguel Diaz walked the first batter he faced, David Peralta singled in another run, Goldschmidt walked again and a bases-loaded free pass to Lamb forced in another run for an 8-0 hole.
By the time Diaz struck out Tomas to end the first, 14 batters had seen 66 pitches � 39 from Weaver and 27 from Diaz. An ensuing, sarcastic standing ovation from a crowd of 22,187 was also unknowingly celebrating the longest opening-inning rally on the road in Diamondbacks history and the start of their most lopsided shutout to date.
The Padres had no answer of their own until Ryan Schimpf's shift-beating single in the ninth, plating a run from second base to avoid the shutout loss.
It was just San Diego's fourth hit _ two off Walker (6 IP, 0 ER) _ in a game that saw Arizona's offense chew through four pitchers after Weaver before infielder Luis Sardinas managed a scoreless ninth.
