PHOENIX — Eric Stults managed to keep Arizona's bats quiet through the first six innings, matching Brandon McCarthy's quality start.
Once the seventh inning started, Stults couldn't keep the Diamondbacks off the bases no matter what he threw.
Stults pitched six scoreless innings before Arizona chased him to start a five-run seventh, sending the San Diego Padres to a 5-2 loss to the Diamondbacks on Friday night.
"I felt like I got away with some pitches through the sixth inning," Stults said. "Actually, it felt like in the seventh inning I made the pitches I wanted to, (but) just didn't have the results."
Stults (4-4) 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 A.J. 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 batters in a row.
Arizona finally got Stults in the seventh inning, when Miguel Montero led off with a double and Martin Prado spun the next pitch over the first base bag with an inside-out double that tied the game. Pinch hitter Wil 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 Paul Goldschmidt reached 20 RBIs in 21 games this month with a two-run double off Anthony Bass that put the Diamondbacks up 5-1. 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.
"Stultsie and McCarthy were hooked up in a definite pitchers' duel," Padres manager Bud Black said. "Stults threw the ball great. He really did."
McCarthy (2-3) 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.
McCarthy 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.
He 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. He allowed a run on five hits.
"That was his third (quality start) in a row, threw the ball the same way," Diamondbacks manager Kirk Gibson said. "Just really good command of what he was doing, pretty efficient."
Everth Cabrera led off the eighth inning with a homer off David Hernandez and the Padres had two on in the ninth, but Heath Bell worked around the trouble for his seventh save to send the Padres to their third straight loss.
Notes: Cabrera's homer was his career-best third of the season. ... Stults has limited opponents to a .118 average (4 for 34) the first time through the order, including 0 for 14 over his past two starts. ... 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.
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