SAN DIEGO — Eric Hosmer stayed smoking hot, and Blake Snell kept putting out fires.
Hosmer hit his second home run in two games and Snell had eight strikeouts in 4 2/3 shutout innings, as the San Diego Padres beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 4-2 Friday night at Petco Park.
Hosmer’s two-run homer in the third inning put the Padres up 3-0, and his single in the seventh inning provided the final margin. He is 6-for-7 with six RBIs to start the season.
Hosmer also scored the Padres’ first run Friday.
In his first start for the team that acquired him in a December trade, Snell stranded two runners in the second, third and fourth innings.
The 28-year-old left-hander yielded two one-out singles through the right side to put runners at first and second in the second before two fly ball outs ended the threat.
Arizona had runners at first and second with one out in the third inning on a walk and Fernando Tatis Jr.’s second throwing error in two games. Snell extinguished the rally with two strikeouts.
A walk and a single started the Diamondbacks’ fourth inning before Snell got a fly ball out and struck out the next two batters.
He was pulled after allowing a double between two outs in the fifth inning, having thrown 86 pitches. Craig Stammen ended the inning with a fly ball out.
Stammen pitched a scoreless sixth and had two outs in the seventh before Tim LoCastro singled and Ketel Marte homered. Taylor Williams finished the seventh with a strikeout.
Emilio Pagan pitched a perfect eighth inning, and Mark Melancon followed his seven-pitch save in the season opener with one that took him 23 pitches to lock down.
