In a playoff-like atmosphere at Petco Park, the Padres had the tying run on second base with two outs in the 9th. The 2-2 pitch from Paul Sewald to Jake Cronenworth appeared to be off the plate, but home plate umpire Charlie Ramos called it a strike to end the game.

With that the D-backs had pulled off a tense 4-3 victory in the first of four games at Petco Park against the Padres

The bullpen was terrific, throwing 4.2 scoreless innings. Joe Mantiply, Kevin Ginkel, and Ryan Thompson passed the relay baton before ultimately handing it off to Sewald for the 9th inning save.

Ginkel ended up getting the win by recording four outs. His record in relief is now 5-1 and after a rough start to his season he’s lowered his ERA to 3.65. Sewald is now a perfect seven for seven in save chances and has a 0.87 ERA.

Thompson had an adventurous eighth inning, that culminated in a pivotal moment. He gave up a leadoff hit and a two out walk. Torey Lovullo anticipated the injured Manny Machado might pinch hit, and sure enough, he came out of the dugout to face Thompson. The submariner got the third baseman to tap back to the mound to get out of it.

Corbin Carroll had three hits, all of them smoked. He scored the go ahead and winning run in the 7th inning after ripping a double off the foul pole in right. Ketel Marte’s second hit of the night drove him home. Carroll did something tonight he hasn’t been able to do all year, and he was straightforward about it after the game.

“I hit some balls up and in, so that was fun. I’ve been working real hard there… I need to do it a lot more, so lets keep rolling.” With the three hits, Carroll raised his average to .201 and OPS to .575.

The D-backs got out to an early lead in the first. Carroll singled, stole second, and advanced to third on a throwing error by the catcher on the play. Two outs later Christian Walker doubled him home. Eugenio Suarez and Gabriel Moreno hit back to back homers off Padres starter Randy Vasquez in the second to stretch the lead to 3-0

Staked to that lead, Slade Cecconi played with fire through the first four innings. He had two on in the first, a runner on third in the second, a runner on second in the third, and two runners on in the fourth. Each time he wriggled off the hook.

He entered the 5th inning with 72 pitches and as we’ve seen so many times, his early inning 97 MPH fastball became 92-93. He gave up a leadoff homer to Kyle Higashioka on a 92 MPH fastball up and int that the Padres catcher yanked down the line just inside the foul pole.

Singles by Luis Aaraez and Fernando Tatis Jr. followed, and after a sacrifice bunt by Jurickson profar moved them up. D-backs killer Jake Cronenworth stepped up to the plate and Joe Mantiply came on in relief. It was a bloop double that scored two runs and tied the ballgame.

Cecconi’s final line was 4.1 IP, 7 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 3 K, 1 HR, 1 HBP. He threw 81 pitches, 54 for strikes. He gave up nine baserunners while recording nine outs. Of the 38 swings against him, he had just three WHIFFS. His max velocity was 97 and his minimum was 91.1

The season ERA by inning table for the young right-hander tells most of the story. If the D-backs ever get fully healthy in the rotation Cecconi could easily excel as a dominant short reliever. Whether he will ever be able to maintain his velocity and stuff beyond the third inning is a legitimate thing to question.

After the game Lovullo said of Cecconi’s outing “He was really good early, and then he hits that little stage of the game where it starts to move a little quick for him, in my opinion. We’re trying to help him slow it down… he makes pitches early and needs to be consistent throughout the entire outing.”

With the win, the D-backs improve to 30-33 and are a half game behind the Padres who drop to 32-34 and have now lost five straight games. Game two of the series is Friday night at 6:40 P.M. Brandon Pfaadt will face off against Michael King.