PHOENIX_A poor start on the mound and a rough performance behind the plate added up to a loss Saturday night.
Throwing to catcher Derek Norris, left-hander Clayton Richard yielded seven runs, four earned, as the Arizona Diamondbacks ran wild on the San Diego Padres in a 9-5 victory at Chase Field.
The two teams, both 68-93, will play a season finale Sunday that could see one of them secure a top-five draft pick.
The penultimate contest was forgettable, especially for the Padres. Richard, making his last start of 2016, surrendered a season-high in runs, though the veteran is a candidate to re-sign with San Diego after a mostly impressive stint. The D-backs stole six bases off Richard and Norris, including a franchise-tying four in the first inning.
"Clayton is responsible for that to a degree, but we could've been better all the way around," Padres manager Andy Green said. "That's part of it as a team, where your middle-infield guys have to cover for your pitcher. ... And that's where we're youthful. We're very young out there.
"I don't put those on Derek. ... I don't really feel like it was so much him today as it was they were running on Clayton and we weren't covering in the field."
In the bottom of the first, the Dbacks crossed home plate five times before Richard recorded an out. Jean Segura, who reached on a fielding error by second baseman Carlos Asuaje, scored on a passed ball by Norris. Brandon Drury collected an RBI single. Yasmany Tomas hammered a three-run homer.
"We left some plays on the field there," Richard said. "It wasn't one person. It was collectively, myself included. We didn't do our job defensively, and that set the tone for the rest of the game, unfortunately.
"That's something where I have to do a better job of shutting it down. ... That's definitely on me. It's not on D-No or anybody else."
Asuaje notched a run-scoring hit in the second, and Padres third baseman Yangervis Solarte followed suit in the third. A couple innings later, the Dbacks resumed taking advantage of the visiting team's miscues.
In the fifth, first baseman Paul Goldschmidt stole his second base of the game. Then he took off for third. Norris fired an off-target throw toward the bag. Goldschmidt came home, making it 7-2.
Richard was lifted from the game, done after 4 1/3 innings. He'd permitted six hits and four walks.
Still, this year's tenure with the Padres went down as a bright spot. After being released by the Chicago Cubs in July, Richard returned to San Diego, where he'd previously spent parts of five seasons. In 10 appearances (nine starts), the pending free agent posted a 2.52 ERA.
After Saturday's game, Richard and Green confirmed there is mutual interest in a reunion.
"It's kind of difficult after a night like tonight to be retrospective over the course of a couple months," Richard said. "But, for the most part, it was positive. I really enjoyed my time here. The guys are a great group of guys. I had a lot of fun with them. It's something that hopefully we figure something out moving forward, but you never know how those things work out.
"I love it here. My family loves it here. It'll be a situation where we have to kind of see what's best for me and my family."
Said Green: "He threw the ball incredibly well for us. Today's not the day he wanted to have, but I think you look at the whole body of work _ he was outstanding. Personally, I'd love to have him back. Collectively, we'll sit down and have discussions about what it takes to get him back here."
Norris went 1-for-4 with an RBI single Saturday, raising his average to a still-unsightly .186. The 27-year-old is making $2.925 million this season and will be arbitration-eligible in 2017.
Austin Hedges, 24, likely will be the frontrunner for the Padres' starting-catcher job. The Padres considered trading Norris in July and will revisit that option in the offseason.
Padres first baseman Wil Myers and rookie right fielder Hunter Renfroe each went 2-for-4 with an RBI.
Dbacks starter Archie Bradley threw seven innings of two-run ball. His 11 strikeouts were a career high and matched Arizona's single-game rookie record.
