D-backs score 5 in the 7th to beat Padres 5-2

[May 25, 2013]  PHOENIX (AP) -- Brandon McCarthy pitched seven effective innings for his second straight win and Paul Goldschmidt hit a two-run double to cap Arizona's five-run seventh inning, lifting the Diamondbacks to a 5-2 victory over the San Diego Padres on Friday night.

Arizona managed two hits over the first six innings against Eric Stults (4-4) before breaking it open in the seventh.

Martin Prado had a run-scoring double, pinch-hitter Wil Nieves followed with another and A.J. Pollock added an RBI single for his third hit. Goldschmidt capped it with a double off Anthony Bass to put Arizona up 5-1.

McCarthy (2-3) allowed a run and five hits and Heath Bell worked around two runners in the ninth for his seven save.

Everth Cabrera led off the eighth inning with a homer off David Hernandez for the Padres, who have lost three straight.

McCarthy was superb in his last start, tossing a three-hitter against Miami for his third career shutout and first win since suffering a life-threatening head injury from a line drive last September.

The lanky right-hander had been on a roll even before that, entering Friday's game with a 17-inning scoreless streak, leaving him two shy of his career best set in 2005.

McCarthy topped his personal best by getting through the first inning, then had it abruptly end in the second after Carlos Quentin's leadoff double and an RBI single by Yonder Alonso.

McCarthy was good after that, escaping a couple of base runners in the sixth inning before being replaced for a pinch hitter in the seventh.

Stults had been solid after a couple of rough starts against San Francisco at the end of April, going 2-1 with a 2.39 ERA in four May outings. He allowed a run and four hits in eight innings to beat Washington his last start after carrying a no-hitter into the sixth inning.

Stults' no-hitter run ended a bit earlier against the Diamondbacks: on Pollock's two-out single in the third inning.

The left-hander was still sharp, getting the Diamondbacks to hit soft grounders and lazy fly balls while retiring eight more hitters in a row.

Arizona finally got Stults in the seventh inning, when Miguel Montero led off with a double and Prado spun the next pitch over the first base bag with an inside-out double that tied the game. Nieves, who's played 13 games this season, put the Diamondbacks ahead with a run-scoring double that chased Stults.

Pollock hit Dale Thayer's first -- and only -- pitch to left for a run-scoring single and Goldschmidt reached 20 RBIs in 21 games this month with his double off Bass. Arizona's four doubles in the inning matched a team record set four times, most recently on May 21, 2010, against Toronto.

Stults allowed four runs and six hits in 6 1-3 innings.

NOTES: McCarthy's scoreless-innings streak matched Curt Schilling (2003) for fourth-longest in franchise history behind Brandon Webb (42 innings and 25) and Andy Benes (23 1-3). ... A moment of silence was held before the game for Phoenix Police Officer Daryl Raetz and firefighter Bradley Harper, who were killed in the line of duty in separate incidents on Sunday. ... Arizona LHP Wade Miley will be making his sixth career start against the Padres on Saturday. He is 1-3 with a 6.28 ERA with 13 walks and 18 strikeouts against them. ... RHP Andrew Cashner, who will start Saturday against the Diamondbacks, is 2-0 with a 1.69 ERA in his past three starts.

[Associated Press; By JOHN MARSHALL]

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