Luis Arraez lifts Padres, who beat Diamondbacks for fourth straight win

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PHOENIX — 

Luis Arraez arrived at Chase Field about 90 minutes before he took his first swing in a game and got his first hit for the Padres.

He led off and was their designated hitter and went about being the personification of A.J. Preller's dream in a 13-1 victory over the Diamondbacks on Saturday.

"It means a lot when I see my name there, leadoff guy," Arraez said. "And then when I hit my double, I said, 'OK here we go.' This is amazing. That was one of my dreams. I'm living my dream right now."

Arraez went 4-for-6 and scored the Padres' first run, drove in their third run and scored their fourth run to lead the way to a rout.

"Those guys got a lot of energy," Arraez said after the game of his new teammates. "So I just want to be here to bring my energy too. And what a game. What a day for me too."

Manny Machado drove in three runs. Jurickson Profar, who Arraez replaced atop the lineup, was 3-for-4 with one of the Padres' two homers in their eight-run seventh inning.

"He inspired us all, the way that he hits," Profar said. "... That's what we want to do."

Michael King threw six innings at the start, as the Padres won their season-high fourth consecutive game and got back to .500 (18-18).

The top of the seventh featured Arraez's fourth hit and his first out of the night.

He was all they could have hoped for in his first game in brown.

From the first inning on, he was pretty much what Preller, the Padres President of Baseball Operations, envisioned when he traded for Arraez on Friday.

"He's a fun guy to watch, puts the bat on the ball," Preller said. "… He brings a lot of energy — both as a table setter and he's also really tough when men get on base driving in runs."

With the so-easy left-handed swing that has won him two batting titles the past two years and prompted comparisons to Tony Gywnn, Arraez lined the game's second pitch down the right field line.

He arrived at second base with a double and put his hands in the shape of a heart over his head, already having learned the Padres' usual celebration.

After moving to third on Jake Cronenworth's single and scoring on Machado's single, Arraez was in the dugout slapping hands with men, some who he knew and some he had just met.

The second time Arraez led off an inning with a hit was something of a true welcome to-the-Padres moment. That he reached second with one out and was stranded there was consistent with how many innings have gone much of the past season-plus.

His third hit came in a two-run fourth inning, which was also indicative of something this season's Padres have been able to do a fair amount in continuing to create opportunities and eventually capitalizing.

Profar started the fourth with a single and went to second when Diamondbacks shortstop Blaze Alexander mishandled Xander Bogaerts' grounder. Both runners moved up on Jackson Merrill's sacrifice bunt, and Profar scored by beating out Alexander's throw home Luis Campusano's grounder.

Arraez followed that by sticking his bat out to swat a ball the other way to left field, scoring Bogaerts from second to give the Padres a 3-0 lead.

He simply placed a pop fly in shallow right-center field to start the seventh inning.

Fernando Tatis Jr. followed with a single before Cronenworth made the inning's first out. The next six batters would reach base, though two of them would merely run around them.

Machado drove in Arraez and Tatis with a double. Profar homered. Xander Bogaerts doubled and scored on single by Jackson Merrill. After Luis Campusano walked, Ha-Seong Kim homered.

The Padres went up 13-0 on Merrill's single, Campusano's RBI double and an RBI groundout by Kim in the top of the ninth before Arizona scored against Stephen Kolek in the final half-inning.

The Padres have been here before, with new additions providing a spark. They know there is a long way to go. Not every night will be like this, though this was the Padres' fourth consecutive game with an inning in which they scored at least four runs. They have outscored the Diamondbacks 20-2 in the two games in this series.

And Saturday, they had a new spark.

"I don't think there's any question (Arraez) got us going, kept us going," manager Mike Shildt said. "... Offense has been in a good place, and with that addition it just takes us to that next level."