PHOENIX _ It ended up getting ugly.
But, really, Tuesday was just one of those nights.
One of those many nights this season when San Diego Padres batters chased too many pitches, did not get enough hits and struck out abundantly.
The Padres, who had won five of their previous seven games, were listless again well before the game got away from them late.
The result was a 6-0 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks, who had lost four straight and six of eight coming in and began the night 1 { games behind the Colorado Rockies and a half-game back of the Los Angeles Dodgers in the National League West.
Diamondbacks starter Robbie Ray struck out 10 _ his second-highest total of the season _ before departing with one out in the seventh inning. Five of those whiffs came on breaking balls outside the strike zone.
The Padres would strike out three more times, their 22nd game this season with 13 or more strikeouts.
After not reaching base off Ray (5-2) until Eric Hosmer's lead-off walk in the fifth and not getting a hit until Franmil Reyes' two-out single in that inning, the Padres finished with just three hits in all. The other two: a single by Luis Urias in the sixth inning and a double by Austin Hedges in the eighth.
That made the four runs the Diamondbacks scored off Robert Stock and Phil Maton with two outs in the seventh extraneous.
Padres starter Joey Lucchesi (7-8) was not ineffective in his five innings of work. He was, in fact, perfect in three of those innings. The Diamondbacks scored two runs on a walk, a triple and a sacrifice fly in succession with one out in the second inning.
Stock, who had allowed two runs in 25 2/3 innings over his previous 16 appearances, retired the first five Diamondbacks he faced before a two-out single began a series of unfortunate events that included a run scoring on a passed ball and another when a ball leaked from Hedges' glove after he had tagged out a runner at home.
Matt Strahm got the final out of the seventh after Maton could not retire any of the three batters he faced. It was Maton's 15th appearance since July 31st, most by any Padres pitcher. Though the run he was charged with was unearned, Maton has a 5.17 ERA in the 15 2/3 innings he has thrown in that span.
