SAN DIEGO _ Triple-A El Paso's season ended Sunday. Several players who helped fuel the San Diego Padres affiliate's playoff run unpacked their bags Monday in downtown San Diego.
On Wednesday, a trio of them participated in a slugfest that made Petco Park feel more like El Paso's Southwest University Park. Nine swings produced a home run, setting a new venue record. Two of them were less expected than the others.
While Hunter Renfroe became the first Padres player to hit three home runs in a game here, Rocky Gale and Christian Villanueva collected their first major league home runs. Gale's arrived in the second inning, just after Villanueva singled for his first career hit. Villanueva homered in the fifth, shortly after Renfroe's second blast, giving the Padres a four-run lead.
But in a 13-7 Padres loss, the Arizona Diamondbacks also punished multiple mistakes. The visitors launched a trio of homers off Dinelson Lamet, who saw a string of impressive starts ended due to a number of costly pitches. David Peralta, who homered in the game's first at-bat, drove in the go-ahead run with a seventh-inning double.
In the sixth, a home run mashed by Arizona's J.D. Martinez knotted the score and sealed a four-spot against Lamet. The rookie right-hander walked off the mound after allowing six runs over 5 1/3 innings. The D-backs' three homers were as many as he had allowed over his previous 10 starts.
The night was more memorable for a couple of former El Paso teammates. Villaneuva, called up this week after eight minor league seasons, sent a hard chopper up the middle for a second-inning single. Gale, who totaled 11 home runs over eight minor league seasons, followed with a drive off the Western Metal building in left.
That tied the game; after Peralta's home run in the first, Jake Lamb had gone deep in the top of the second.
In the bottom of the third, Renfroe drilled a two-run shot to left. The home run, the Padres' 178th of the season, set a new franchise record.
Renfroe crushed another pitch in the fifth, giving him 23 major league homers on the season.
Three batters later, Villanueva sent a no-doubter to the upper deck in left, giving the Padres a 6-2 lead. Villanueva and Gale became the second Padres duo to record their first career home runs in the same game, joining Sandy Alomar Jr. and Phil Stephenson in 1989.
Lamet relinquished the lead in the sixth. Peralta doubled against Stammen in the seventh, putting the D-backs ahead. Arizona padded its advantage in the eighth, when reliever Archie Bradley singled and center fielder Manuel Margot misplayed the ball, allowing a second run to score.
A.J. Pollock boomed a three-run homer in the top of the ninth, turning the game into a blowout.
It did not end, however, before Renfroe launched his third homer of the night in the ninth. The right fielder's blast was his 24th of the season, matching Nate Colbert for the Padres rookie record.
