PEORIA – Chris Young figures the Arizona Diamondbacks can have a powerful offense all season.
Young and Miguel Montero each hit three-run homers, Ryan Roberts added a solo shot and Arizona rallied from five runs down to beat the San Diego Padres 12-7 on Sunday and snap a four-game losing streak.
“That’s the potential we have in our lineup,” said Young, who also singled, doubled and had four RBIs. “We haven’t been clicking. We had some guys on, some guys off.
“Today was one of those days where everybody came out ready to go. You could see the aggressiveness at the plate, guys out there really trying to make things happen.”
Arizona right-hander Dan Haren gave up two homers and five runs in the first two innings but settled down from there. He lasted five innings, his longest outing of the spring.
Jody Gerut and Edgar Gonzalez homered for San Diego.
Hitters from both teams benefited from the blustery conditions. Gonzalez had to pause after rounding second base until an umpire signaled his two-run homer off Haren had cleared the fence. Gerut’s homer also appeared wind-blown.
Defensively, it was just the opposite. Outfielders had trouble tracking fly balls in the wind, with San Diego committing four errors while Arizona had one.
“If it’s real hot or real cold you can kind of deal with it, but no one likes the wind,” Haren said. “The outfielders hate it. It’s tough out there. You see a lot of balls misplayed. Pitching-wise, sometimes the ball’s moving a little bit more than usual. It’s just uncomfortable.”
Haren said the conditions affected his pitching early. San Diego’s first three batters reached base and scored, then Gerut added a two-run shot in the second to make it 5-0.
“The conditions out there weren’t really conducive to pitching,” said Haren, who struck out five but gave up nine hits. “I got some balls up early. I was more focused on being down as the game went along and had some better results.”
Young started Arizona’s comeback with his three-run homer off Josh Greer with one out in the third. One out later, Chad Tracy hit the first of his three doubles and Mark Reynolds walked before Montero homered to right to give the Diamondbacks a 6-5 lead.
Tracy added run-scoring doubles in the fifth and sixth, and Roberts homered in the seventh.