SAN DIEGO -- Early in the sixth inning Saturday night, Padres interim manager Pat Murphy glanced at the scoreboard and thought about left-hander Robbie Erlin pitching the first no-hitter in Padres history.

"How unbelievable would that be, Erlin coming in with a 21.00 earned run average and being the first," Murphy said after Erlin and right-handed relievers Joaquin Benoit and Craig Kimbrel combined on a four-hit shutout Saturday night as the Padres defeated the Arizona Diamondbacks 3-0 at Petco Park. The shutout was the sixth of the season for the Padres.

Alas, Erlin's no-hit bid ended shortly after Murphy's contemplation of history. Arizona's left-handed-hitting right-fielder Ender Inciarte slashed a triple inside the third-base bag with two-out in the sixth for the Diamondbacks' first hit.

Erlin allowed only two hits and a walk while throwing 79 pitches over seven innings to even his record at 1-1 and knock 14.7 runs off his ERA.

"I felt good and I had a lot better fastball command than I had in my first start," said Erlin, who last Sunday at Coors Field in Colorado allowed seven runs on nine hits in three innings as the first left-hander to start a game for the Padres this season.

Erlin has depended on his curve in most of his past successful outings for the Padres. But Saturday night the effective combination was spotting his fastball while mixing in his changeup.

"It looked like Erlin was changing speeds and his breaking ball didn't become effective until later in the game," said Arizona manager Chip Hale. "He just stayed off the barrel."

"My goal was to keep the ball out of the middle of the plate," said Erlin. "They hit a couple balls really hard and the defense came through."

The game's decisive run came in the sixth inning when Padres third baseman Cory Spangenberg led off with a double off Arizona right-handed starter Jeremy Hellickson, advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored on the first of two sacrifice flies by second baseman Jedd Gyorko.

"I was happy with what we got out of Jeremy," said Hale of Hellickson, who was making his third start after missing a month with a left hamstring strain.

Hellickson (9-11) allowed the one run on four hits and two walks over six innings.

"I thought my stuff was pretty good," said Hellickson. "My fastball command was good early and then I started elevating some pitches, especially that sacrifice fly to Gyorko. We were trying to get a ground ball right there and the last thing I wanted to do was give him a pitch to hit a ball in the air."

Spangenberg's second double of the game in the sixth was an opposite-field drive to left. From third, he used his speed and a perfect slide to avoid catcher Welington Castillo's tag on Inciarte's throw from medium right on Gyorko's fly.

The Padres added two runs in the bottom of the eighth against right-handed Diamondbacks reliever Josh Collmenter. Spangenberg, who had three hits, and right fielder Matt Kemp opened the inning with singles. Left fielder Justin Upton, who had been 0-for-16 on the Padres final homestand, doubled home Spangenberg ahead of second baseman Gyorko's second sacrifice fly.

Only two Diamondbacks reached base before Inciarte's two-out triple in the sixth.

Inciarte reached base to open the game on a wild pitch after he struck out. And Hellickson drew a walk with one out in the third only to be eliminated on Inciarte's double-play ground to first baseman Wil Myers.

Hellickson also opened with five scoreless innings, although the Padres had three hits and left a runner on base in each of the first four innings.

Center fielder A.J. Pollock singled against Erlin to open the Arizona seventh. But Gyorko turned a wicked, one-hot shot to second into a double play and Castillo lined out to center to end the inning.

Benoit and Kimbrel each allowed a hit with Kimbrel picking up his 38th save.

NOTES: With Padres 3B Yangervis Solarte missing a third straight start with a right hamstring cramp, Cory Spangenberg moved from second to third and Jedd Gyorko from shortstop to second, opening the door for Alexi Amarista to make his first back-to-back starts at shortstop in five weeks. ... Diamondbacks RHP Brad Ziegler's streak of 26 saves is the longest active streak in the majors and the third-longest this season. ... RHP Rubby De La Rosa on Friday picked up his fourth win against San Diego in 2015. The only other Arizona pitcher to beat the Padres four times in a season was Randy Johnson (2002).