PHOENIX _ Right now, the Padres are good enough to beat their opponent on most nights and overcome themselves more often than not.
They scored more runs in the first three innings of Saturday night's game against the Diamondbacks than they had scored in the first three innings of any game this season. And they should have scored more.
Franmil Reyes' home run in the seventh inning was the deciding run, as the Padres bullpen closed out a 5-4 victory that should not have held the angst it did.
And here they are, winners of four straight and atop the National League West with an 11-5 record.
If you think that is difficult to explain, try comprehending how Robert Stock and Trey Wingenter walked three batters and hit another between them and didn't allow a run in the seventh inning.
The two right-handers, who average around 97 mph on their fastballs, threw 24 pitches and just seven of them were strikes. When Stock missed inside for ball four on David Peralta, the Diamondbacks' hitter said something that upset Stock. Two batters later, Wingenter hit Eduardo Escobar to load the bases, and Escobar started yelling at the 6-foot-7 Wingenter.
Wingenter had relieved Stock, who walked the two batters he faced, and immediately caught Wilmer Flores trying to steal third. Wingenter then walked Christian Walker and hit Escobar before Nick Ahmed hit a hard grounder back to the mound that Wingenter threw home and Austin Hedges whipped to first base to complete the inning-ending double play.
Wingenter jumped off the mound screaming and jabbing his hands through the air.
Stock's wildness will have to be addressed. He has walked six batters in six innings, and Saturday was the second time in six appearances he faced multiple batters and did not record an out.
But the wild inning could be set aside for a while at the end because Brad Wieck worked a perfect eighth and Kirby Yates earned his ninth save by striking out three straight batters to get past a lead-off double in the ninth inning.
That also saved the Padres from lamenting the top of Saturday's second inning, which featured a double play in which Ian Kinsler was caught in a rundown trying to advance on Hedges' grounder to third base and Hedges was thrown out trying to get back to first base after running too aggressively toward second.
The Padres were up despite those blunders, as a two-RBI single by Eric Hosmer in the first inning and a two-run homer by Fernando Tatis Jr. in the third inning staked them to a 4-0 lead. Meanwhile, starting pitcher Matt Strahm was overcoming having runners on the basepaths.
Strahm, who had allowed five runs in 2 2/3 innings against the Diamondbacks on April 1, in his first start of the season, went five scoreless on Saturday.
The left-hander stranded runners at first and third in both the second and third innings and left having thrown allowed four hits and striking out four.
The Diamondbacks tied the game with four runs in the sixth inning, all of them charged to Gerardo Reyes. The rookie, who got two quick outs and the victory in his major league debut on Friday, allowed three hits and one out after relieving Strahm in the sixth. Craig Stammen allowed both runs to score, one on a ground ball out and the other on an infield single, before getting out of the inning.
Reyes' homer gave the Padres their ninth victory in which the deciding run was scored in the sixth inning or later.
The Padres clinched their fourth series victory in the five they have played this season.
The Padres were 14-30-7 in series last season, a statistic that shows how long there is to go in this season and how woeful they were in 2018. But last year _ and in so many the preceded it _ most nights would have seen an embarrassing double play in the second inning become a catalyst to another loss.
Instead, the Padres did what they have done most of this young season in jumping to their best 16-game start since they were 13-3 in 1998.
Heck, Manny Machado was even charged with an error on Saturday.
And the world continued spinning, just as it did earlier this week when the Padres ascended into the top spot in the National League West, alone there for the first time in eight years.
The Padres on Friday clinched their first winning record since 2013 on a road trip longer than eight games. Saturday, they improved to 7-2 on the trip that concludes Sunday afternoon. The last time they won seven games on a trip was 2012.
