SAN DIEGO _ The Padres selectively swept the Diamondbacks out of town with a 5-2 victory on a rainy Wednesday afternoon at Petco Park.
Scoring all of their runs in the first three innings, the Padres built an early lead that was more than enough for Eric Lauer (3-4), who turned in his finest start of the season.
Kirby Yates' third save in three days completed the Padres' first sweep of a three-game series since they took three from the visiting Phillies in August 2017. Not since June 2013 had the Padres swept the Diamondbacks in a three-game series.
Beyond regaining sole possession of second place in the National League West in mid-May, the components of this victory that the Padres hope are indicators of sustainable progress were their own starting pitcher's precision and their offense's ability to work opposing pitchers.
Diamondbacks starter Merrill Kelly was not good in his 1 2/3 innings. But the Padres didn't help him, which their aggressiveness at the plate has caused them to do at times.
Of the 34 pitches Kelly threw outside the zone, the Padres swung at just two. Both of those swings were by Greg Garcia, who ended up getting a single and a double in his two at-bats against Kelly.
By the time Wil Myers' walk brought Arizona manager Torey Lovullo from the dugout to remove Kelly (4-5), the Padres had scored four runs on five hits, a sacrifice fly and a four walks.
Eric Hosmer's single drove in two runs in the first, and Hosmer scored on Ty France's double. In the second, Garcia hit a one-out double and went to third on Franmil Reyes' 110-mph liner off Kelly's foot. Kelly stayed in the game, allowing a sacrifice fly to Manny Machado and walking Hosmer and Myers before getting pulled.
The Padres added a run off Jimmie Sherfy in the third on Austin Hedges' single, a sacrifice bunt by Lauer and a single by Garcia, his third hit of the day.
They couldn't sustain their incredible patience at the plate but still finished the game having chased just 19 of the 87 pitches they saw outside the zone, among their best days of the season.
It's not that the Padres have excessively swung at bad pitches. They simply haven't been as selective as they'd like this season.
Their 31.6% chase rate entering Wednesday's game ranked 21st in the majors. More indicative of what they'd like to improve is that they entered the game having had 12.5% of their plate appearances last just one at-bat, the third-highest ratio in the majors.
Their average, on-base and slugging percentages are all below league average for one-pitch plate appearances.
Just two Padres saw one pitch in a plate appearance Wednesday, one of them being France, who was hit by a pitch in the seventh.
As the offense was making Diamondbacks pitchers work, the 23-year-old Lauer relatively breezed through a day in which intermittent showers twice sent the Petco Park crowd scrambling for cover.
It was almost as good as Lauer had ever been in the majors, and it was a start he'd acknowledged he needed for some time.
He allowed his third and fourth hits and first run of the game in the sixth inning and then ended that inning on a groundout by Adam Jones. It was Lauer's first time through six innings in his past seven starts, and in that game he had allowed five runs to the Giants.
Lauer (3-4) struck out the side in the seventh, the final one coming on his 100th pitch. It was just his second time through seven innings in 33 career starts. His other such outing was last July 10, when he allowed four hits in 8 2/3 in a 4-1 victory over the Dodgers.
After Trey Wingenter pitched a perfect eighth, the Diamondbacks scored a run on two hits before Adam Warren could get an out in the ninth. That prompted Padres manager Andy Green to call on Yates, who retired three straight batters for his 20th save.
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