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SAN DIEGO -- Braves manager Brian Snitker paid Padres rookie starter Dinelson Lamet a high compliment Thursday during San Diego's 6-0 win over Atlanta at Petco Park. Moments after Ender Inciarte led off the sixth inning with a double to become the first Brave to reach second base in the game, Snitker walked onto the field to ask crew chief Mike Winters and plate umpire Jim Reynolds to check Lamet for a foreign substance.
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Certainly, something had to be amiss.
The 24-year-old Lamet retired the first 11 Braves before Nick Markakis singled with two outs in the fourth. By the time he was finished, Lamet had allowed four hits and a walk with eight strikeouts over seven innings.
So Winters and Reynolds trekked to the mound to frisk Lamet. They found nothing. And if the goal was to shake up Lamet, that didn't work either. Inciarte never advanced from second.
"He doesn't rattle," Padres manager Andy Green said.
Wil Myers and Hunter Renfroe rocketed two-run homers off Jaime Garcia changeups. and relievers Kirby Yates and Jose Valdez retired all six Braves they faced to complete the Padres' shutout.
The win was San Diego's second straight over Atlanta after the Braves won the first five meetings this season, including the series opener on Tuesday.
"He's really good," Snitker said of Lamet (3-2). "I've never seen him; none of us had seen him. But that was pretty impressive. He was alive. The breaking ball was really good."
Of his sixth-inning challenge, Snitker said, "Some guys put sunscreen (on the ball) and all that. I thought he had something on there because he kept going to it all the time, so I just wanted to check it."
Lamet does have a routine. Between pitches, he goes to his mouth, then touches the ground and wipes off his hand on the back of his right leg.
"It's normal for me," Lamet said. "It creates a little mud. I knew they weren't going to find anything."
And if Snitker's plan was for Lamet to lose concentration or get rattled, that didn't work either. Lamet retired six of the last seven Braves he faced after the inspection.
"That is their job," Lamet said of the umpires. "It didn't bother me."
"He handled it fine," Green said. "It's well within (the Braves') rights to ask."
After Lamet departed, Yates (two strikeouts) and Jose Valdez (three K's) each worked a perfect inning.
As for offense, Myers and Renfroe each hit their 16th homer of the season, and Manuel Margot had three hits and two RBIs.
Myers capped a three-run third with his 402-foot drive onto the second balcony of the Western Metal Supply Co. building, off an 83 mph changeup by Garcia.
Two innings later, Renfroe drove an 82 mph Garcia changeup 439 feet to straightaway center. The drive to the base of the batter's eye was the longest homer at Petco Park this season.
Garcia (2-6) gave up six runs on seven hits and three walks in six-plus innings. He struck out six.
Jose Pirela singled with one out in the Padres' third and scored on Margot's double through the gap in left-center. Myers, who lost a home run in the series opener on a misinterpretation of a Petco Park ground rule, followed with his fifth homer in June, off a 1-0 pitch.
Myers drew a two-out walk ahead of Renfroe's blast in the fifth. Renfroe's sixth homer this month -- and first since June 16 -- also came on a 1-0 changeup.
The Padres added a sixth run in the bottom of the seventh. Matt Szczur pinch-hit for Lamet and drew a walk as the last batter Garcia faced. Szczur moved to second and scored on Margot's second RBI hit, a single off reliever Rex Brothers, who was promoted from Triple-A Gwinnett to replace Bartolo Colon on the Atlanta roster.
NOTES: Braves 1B Matt Adams left the game after fouling a pitch off his left foot in his first at-bat. X-rays were negative. ... The Braves designated 44-year-old RHP Bartolo Colon for assignment on Thursday and promoted LHP Rex Brothers from Triple-A Gwinnett. Colon was 2-8 this season with an 8.14 ERA in 13 starts. He gave up six runs on eight hits and three walks in four innings to the Padres on Wednesday night. "We hated to do it, and it wasn't easy because he's such a great guy," Braves manager Brian Snitker said. "But it just wasn't happening here." ... Brothers, 29, pitched in parts of five major league seasons with the Colorado Rockies as a reliever, posting a 3.42 ERA and 20 saves in 286 appearances. ... The Padres still haven't announced a starter for Saturday night against the Los Angeles Dodgers, although Triple-A El Paso LHP Dillon Overton would be in line for a start that day.
