PHOENIX _ There was a lot of heat awaiting the Arizona Diamondbacks as they returned home from a six-game road trip.
They survived both waves on Friday, as they beat the San Diego Padres 5-1 at open-roofed Chase Field.
It hit 117 degrees here Friday. At least that was a dry heat, unlike the filth the Diamondbacks faced from Dinelson Lamet.
They might not have been as helpless as when facing him six days earlier. But Lamet did not allow a hit until David Peralta just beat out a single with two out in the fourth inning.
Kole Calhoun didn't wreck Lamet's no-hitter this time, but he did break a scoreless tie with a line drive into the visitors' bullpen beyond right field leading off the sixth inning. Daulton Varsho's bunt single with two outs in the fifth was the only other hit against Lamet in his six innings Friday.
Meanwhile, the heat did nothing for the Padres' bats, as their scoreless streak ran to 16 innings before Wil Myers' double and Jake Cronenworth's single in the ninth inning created the Padres' lone run of the night. The Padres have scored three runs in their last 31 innings.
It was the first time in three starts Lamet did not take a no-hitter into the sixth inning.
Sunday against the Diamondbacks at Petco Park, Calhoun's homer leading off the seventh was the only hit against Lamet in 6 2/3 innings. On Aug. 4 against the Dodgers at Petco, Cody Bellinger's single with two outs in the sixth was the first of two hits Lamet allowed in 5 2/3 innings.
Friday was the second time in six days and third time in three weeks Lamet faced the Diamondacks.
"We know that we've got somebody who's throwing the ball extremely well early on in this abbreviated season and we've got a great challenge ahead of us," Arizona manager Torey Lovullo said before Friday's game. "But we've seen him now, this will be our third time. I feel like that familiarity is going to allow us to go out there and do some things and be a little bit more comfortable, a little bit more aggressive with our swings and pinpoint exactly where the ball is going to be landing. Hopefully it's going to be landing on our barrel. I know our guys are ready for this challenge. They've been talking about it for a couple days."
Lamet, too, was aware of the challenge he faced.
"It's honestly probably a little easier for them," Lamet said through interpreter David Longley. " ... I know they're doing the same prep I am doing. They're watching video just as I am. They've seen the pitches I've thrown and they are seeing where I'm trying to execute, seeing where they made some hard contact. At the same time, I'm going to bet on myself."
Padres manager Jayce Tingler mentioned it so often that the Diamondbacks would be familiar, it seemed he half-expected to have the bullpen on high alert.
"Tonight, in particular, is incredibly tough," Tingler said Friday afternoon. "What's so unique about this year is these starting pitchers have been facing the same teams. ... (Diamondbacks) hitters are getting more peaks at him more back-to -back instead of it being spread out over the year. That's something we just have to pay attention to tonight. We should have a fairly fresh bullpen. We'll see how Lamet has it working tonight and go from there."
He had it working just fine. In those three games, the Diamondbacks have three runs on nine hits over Lamet's 17 2/3 innings.
It was 113 degrees at game time, and moments before Merrill Kelly threw the first pitch to Fernando Tatis Jr., the roof at Chase Field slid open. That is not something they do here in the middle of summer when fans are in attendance, but the players prefer to play outdoors.
If spectators were allowed in games, the nights Lamet pitches would be the kind devoted fans would not miss.
The 28-year-old right-hander, who was making just his 40th career start after missing all of 2018 and half of '19 following Tommy John surgery, entered Friday with a 1.61 ERA and 0.85 WHIP (walks and hits per inning pitched) in four starts this season.
His fastball is averaging better than 97 mph, 16th-fastest among qualifying starting pitchers. His late-breaking slider is getting misses on 48.8% of the swings against it, 14% higher than the league average.
"If he'd been healthy all that time, he'd probably already be a household name around the league like he's starting to be now," catcher Austin Hedges said this week.
The Padres generally stayed cool on offense Friday. After being outscored 17-2 the previous two nights at Dodger Stadium, they put a runner on base in each of the first three innings but failed to score.
That included loading the bases with one out in the third. Infield singles by Tatis and Trent Grisham were followed by an intentional walk of Manny Machado before Tommy Pham struck out and Eric Hosmer flied out to center field.
That started a run of Kelly retiring 12 straight batters before Cronenworth walked with one out in the seventh. Kelly then got Francisco Mejia on a pop fly before being replaced by Junior Guerra, who ended the inning on a pop fly by Jurickson Profar.
Kirby Yates, who had battled back tightness and had not pitched in a week, came on in the eighth inning but left after striking out the only batter he faced.
Immediately after Varsho reached first base, having raced there when the third strike bounced away from Mejia, manager Jayce Tingler came out and Yates walked off the field with a member of the athletic training staff.
Javy Guerra gave up four runs on three hits and a sacrifice fly before he was replaced by Tim Hill with two outs.
