Jake Cronenworth's homer lifts Padres to win over Diamondbacks

Kevin Acee, The San Diego Union-Tribune on Jul 8, 2026

Published in Baseball

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Jake Cronenworth said late Monday night that it was time for the Padres to “dig deep.”

On Tuesday afternoon, he suffered a bloody nose and a scare when he took a ball to the face during batting practice.

Then, after helping dig a hole by making an error in the top of the first inning, Cronenworth hit a three-run homer in the bottom of the first.

His blast, which sailed just inside the right field foul pole, was the difference as the Padres beat the Diamondbacks 4-1 at Petco Park.

The victory was the Padres’ second in 11 games and got them back to within a game of .500.

If they are going to turn around a season that has veered sharply downward, what happened on the mound Tuesday might be as significant as the victory itself.

Germán Márquez made his first start since May 1 and gave the Padres five winning innings, a rarity recently among members of the rotation.

Márquez, who went on the injured list with what was said to be nerve irritation in his right forearm, returned last week and pitched out of the bullpen on Thursday in Los Angeles, allowing two runs in three innings.

He had been on standby to piggyback Sunday in case JP Sears was taxed early. But Sears went five scoreless innings, which saved Márquez for Tuesday.

Pitching in the rotation spot vacated when Randy Vásquez went on the IL with a right ankle bruise, Márquez overcame a 31-pitch first inning and was able to walk off the mound four innings later pumping his fist after throwing just 51 more.

He and Sears are the only Padres starters to make it through five innings while allowing fewer than two runs in the past 14 games.

At the outset, Tuesday looked a lot like Monday, which began with the Diamondbacks scoring twice in a first inning that featured two errors and ended with them winning 8-0.

Ketel Marte, who tripled at the start Monday, doubled down the right-field line to lead off Tuesday’s game. He moved to third when Cronenworth mishandled a grounder by the next batter, Geraldo Perdomo, and the bases were loaded with no outs after Márquez walked Corbin Carroll on four pitches.

Following a forceout at home, Perdomo scored when Márquez walked Max Kepler. But Márquez escaped when Nolan Arenado lined a ball up the middle that second baseman Sung-Mun Song caught and ran to step on the bag for a double play.

Four pitches into the bottom of the first, the game was tied.

Fernando Tatis Jr. drove the first pitch he saw from Zac Gallen to the gap in right field for a double, and Jackson Merrill lined an 0-2 curveball into right field.

After strikeouts by Xander Bogaerts and Manny Machado, Gavin Sheets drew a walk.

Then Cronenworth sent a 1-2 fastball Gallen left over the center of the plate down the right-field line to make it 4-1.

The only real threat by either team after that came in the sixth when Yuki Matsui surrendered a pair of one-out singles before Jhony Brito made his first big-league appearance since 2024 and got a double-play grounder from Arenado on the first pitch he threw.

Brito retired the bottom Diamondbacks in order in the seventh before Bradgley Rodriguez worked a 1-2-3 eighth and Mason Miller did the same in the ninth for his National League-leading 23rd save.