success into the playoffs, giving up four earned runs in innings and taking the loss in the 4–1 defeat. Kennedy faced Gallardo again in game 5, with neither pitcher taking the decision. While John Axford's first blown save for the Brewers took the game into extra innings, the Diamondbacks were eliminated on a walk-off RBI from Nyjer Morgan. Kennedy picked up his first opening day win in 2012, outpitching Giants ace Tim Lincecum in a 5–4 victory. He struggled early in the season, with a 3–5 record and 4.65 ERA by the start of June, but felt "like [he] got in a nice little groove" against the Giants on June 1, allowing only one run in innings. In his next start, after making a "secret" mechanical change to his pitches, Kennedy matched his career high 12 strikeouts in a 10–0 shutout of the Colorado Rockies. That July, he lasted eight innings in two consecutive starts, giving up three runs across the 16 total innings. In the second start, Kennedy also hit his first career triple, clearing the bases in a 6–3 defeat of the Rockies. While his record and ERA dropped to 14–11 and 4.14 during the 2012 season, respectively, Kennedy boasted an 8.0 K/9 ratio for the second year in a row, and maintained a 2.0 Wins Above Replacement for the year. Kennedy once again served as Arizona's opening pitcher for the 2013 season, striking out eight batters and allowing two runs in seven innings of a 6–2 defeat of the St. Louis Cardinals. On June 11, while facing the division rival Los Angeles Dodgers, Kennedy accidentally struck three batters with a pitch. First, he glanced a fastball off of Yasiel Puig's face in the sixth inning. In the next inning, Kennedy struck catcher Miguel Montero in the back. After Kennedy struck pitcher Zack Greinke that same inning, both teams engaged in a benches-clearing brawl, with six players and coaches ejected from the game. Kennedy was suspended for 10 games for what MLB referred to as "intentionally throwing a pitch in the head area of Zack Greinke ... after a warning had already been issued to both clubs". At the time of his suspension, Kennedy was 3–4 with a 5.21 ERA. He returned on June 29, where control problems led to four runs in innings and Arizona extended its losing streak to 21 games. San Diego Padres (2013–2015) On