PHOENIX _ If only the rest of the Padres were like Christian Villanueva.
"I'm just being more patient at the plate," the Padres rookie third baseman said before Saturday's game against the Diamondbacks. "Just trying to wait for my pitch and not chase bad pitches."
Or like Franchy Cordero.
"I'm trying to swing at pitches in the zone and trying to leave the pitches out of the zone exactly where they are, which is out of the zone," the rookie outfielder said before Friday's game here.
Sounds simple enough.
It's just not that easy, as the Padres continued to show in a 6-2 loss Saturday night.
Against another starting pitcher whose off-speed offerings rarely cross the plate, the Padres chased too often, as Zack Godley struck out eight in 51/3 innings.
And after Arizona manager Torey Lovullo went to his bullpen, which has the majors' lowest cumulative ERA, the Padres didn't threaten to score, though they struck out just twice in the final 32/3.
With the 10 strikeouts, the Padres moved into a tie with Baltimore for the major-league lead with 221.
They have struck out an average of 8.6 times in their eight victories and 10.9 times in their 14 losses.
The Diamondbacks chased Padres starter Clayton Richard after his 95th pitch was ball four to Chris Owings leading off the sixth inning.
Richard left with the Padres down 3-2, having allowed two runs on three hits in the second inning and A.J. Pollock's solo homer in the third.
After Adam Cimber came in and got the first out on a pop-up, catcher Austin Hedges threw out Owings trying to steal second. But three straight hard singles brought in another run. (Hedges would notch another caught stealing in the seventh.)
The Diamondbacks reached the final margin with two runs off Jordan Lyles in the seventh, as a Padres bullpen that had a majors-leading 1.84 ERA five games ago has now allowed 15 runs (all earned) in its past 22 1/3 innings.
The Padres had at least a hit in each of the first four innings, but after Cordero's two-out double in the first inning drove in Jose Pirela and Villanueva, who had both singled, the Padres went 0-for-6 with runners on the rest of the way against Godley.
The night before, they had put together a rare string of timely hits _ and simply put balls in play with men on base _ to score three runs in the ninth inning and beat the Diamondback, 4-1.
It's something manager Andy Green and his staff have practically beat into their hitters' heads � selectivity, stubbornness, contact.
Speaking specifically of a Villanueva single in the ninth inning that gave the Padres a 2-1 lead on Friday, Green said, "All he had to do was put it in play. That's what we've been waiting for all year _ that big hit that puts us ahead late in the ballgame."
Saturday, the Padres would get three hits in the final five innings _ singles by Cordero, Chase Headley and Freddy Galvis.
They are 1-11 when trailing after six innings, 0-11 when trailing after seven. Saturday was the first time in seven such games they lost after scoring first.
Meanwhile, Villanueva and Cordero continued renaissances of selectivity that were recently almost unimaginable.
Villanueva was 2-for-4 to extend his hitting streak to eight games, during which he is 13-for-22 with three homers and five walks. His hitting line in the span: .591/.645/.1.000.
In the eight games that preceded the streak, Villanueva was 1-for-22 and did not walk once. Basically, he was swinging when the pitcher let go of the ball.
After his first-inning double, Cordero walked in the third inning, singled in the sixth and grounded out in the ninth.
A notoriously free swinger who has struck out 13 times, he did not whiff Saturday and now has seven hits in his past 25 at-bats, plus his only two walks. He is seeing an average of almost one more pitch per plate appearance his past 22 times up than he did in his first 16 plate appearances.
If the two rookies can do it, maybe everyone eventually can.
