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SD@ARI: Gyorko leaps to rob Marte of a base hit

PHOENIX -- For a brief moment on Friday, Odrisamer Despaigne thought the improbable might actually be plausible.

Stuck without a hit in his first 14 big league at-bats, the pitcher lined a ball into center field, but Ender Inciarte raced in to make a diving catch.

"It was one of those days when nothing goes your way," Despaigne said through an interpreter, shaking his head.

There's been more than a few of those days of late for the 27-year-old Cuban rookie, who was a world-beater in his first five big league starts but has had a difficult time chasing the regression monster since.

A funny thing, though -- Despaigne might have actually been more unlucky than unsuccessful on Friday, even as the D-backs got to him for three first-inning runs on their way to a 5-1 victory at Chase Field.

"He started off very hot against everybody. He's got good stuff. We just have a little better idea of what he's going to do, maybe lay off a few pitches that we were offering at early on," said D-backs manager Kirk Gibson. "So you just have a better idea of what to expect, and we seemed to have more success tonight against him."

Despaigne (3-5) got two quick outs to start the first inning, then allowed a triple to the gap in left-center to David Peralta. Mark Trumbo then reached on an infield single, barely beating the throw from shortstop Alexi Amarista on a ball deep in the hole between shortstop and third.

Miguel Montero followed with a two-run homer on a changeup down and in that caught a little too much of the plate. It also caught too much of the right-field foul pole, glancing off it for a three-run lead.

"The overall pitching wasn't bad," said manager Bud Black. "The overall line will look worse than what he threw. The pitch that broke his back was the changeup."

Despaigne allowed four runs (three earned) on five hits in five innings. He walked one and finished with four strikeouts.

In his first five starts, he was 2-1 with a 1.31 ERA. In his last six, he's 1-4 with a 5.81 ERA.

"The first five outings, hitters had no idea about me," he said. "I was the new guy. Now, the last six of them, it's been different. Guys making more adjustments, seeing [me] the second time, getting a better idea of how [I like] to work, velocity, what kinds of pitches [I like] to throw in certain counts.

"At this level, when you're behind hitters and they make you throw strikes, sometimes they make you pay for it."

Better stuff might not have made much of a difference the way Josh Collmenter was going for the D-backs (54-75). Collmenter (9-7) took a two-hit shutout into the ninth inning and left after allowing a pair of hits and an unearned run.

"The story was their guy," Black said of Collmenter, who finished with eight strikeouts. "We couldn't solve him. We've seen him a lot over the years. It's a sneaky fastball from a different arm slot. He commands the ball well and has a good change. We couldn't square anything up against him."

The Padres (59-68), now 2-6 on this 10-game road trip, got two hits from Amarista and two more from Yangervis Solarte. They had just two runners in scoring position all night and scored their lone run on a passed ball in the ninth inning. Comments