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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Padres' winning streak reaches 10


Associated Press

Hawaii news photo - The Honolulu Advertiser

San Diego's Chase Headley trots past Arizona third baseman Mark Reynolds after his go-ahead homer.

MATT YORK | Associated Press

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PHOENIX — The San Diego Padres were down by six runs with two innings to play. Their manager had been tossed. So had their starting catcher.

Those old road woes seemed to be back.

Then came one big hit after another, capped by Chase Headley's two-run homer in the 10th, and the Padres won their 10th straight game, beating Arizona, 9-7, yesterday.

"It's not unlike the first couple of weeks of the season," manager Bud Black said. "We came back from 7-1 in Philadelphia ... We've done it before. It's something we as coaches always remember, to remind our guys that we can do it. If you do it once, you can do it again."

San Diego, which snapped an 11-game road losing streak, trailed 7-1 before scoring five in the eighth, one in the ninth and two in the 10th.

"It's been a lot of fun to come to the ballpark these last 10 days," Headley said. "We come here and we expect to win. It's not that we come in here and hope to win, we expect to win. We just couldn't give up today."

Henry Blanco, who had replaced Hundley, led off the 10th with his second single, then Headley hit a 1-1 pitch from Tony Pena (4-2) some 424 feet off a sign above the swimming pool in left-center.

"It's just the best feeling in the world," Headley said. "You go up there and you get a big hit in a big situation and it ends up being the game winner. There's nothing better than that."

Edward Mujica (2-1) pitched a scoreless ninth for the victory. Heath Bell had a perfect 10th for his 13th save in 13 tries.

Drew Macias had the big blow of the eighth, a three-run double to slice the lead to 7-6.

Arizona's Chad Qualls blew a save for the second time in 13 opportunities, giving up a leadoff double to pinch hitter Brian Giles, who advanced to third on David Eckstein's ground out and scored on Scott Hairston's single to tie it at 7-7.

BREWERS 1, CARDINALS 0:

Bill Hall snapped a 1-for-28 slump with a two-out, RBI single in the 10th inning to lift host Milwaukee over St. Louis. Cardinals ace Chris Carpenter took a perfect game into the seventh inning, and the Brewers' Yovani Gallardo carried a no-hitter into the sixth before each finished allowing just two hits over eight innings.

PIRATES 10, CUBS 8:

Freddy Sanchez had Pittsburgh's first six-hit game in 19 years, scored four runs, and drove in three, sending host Chicago to its eighth straight loss. Sanchez hit a two-run homer, doubled and singled four times for the second six-hit game (Texas' Ian Kinsler) in the majors this season and the first by a Pirate since Wally Backman in 1990.

GIANTS 8, BRAVES 2:

Last-minute lineup addition Travis Ishikawa had a three-run homer among his career-high four hits for host San Francisco, and Jonathan Sanchez (2-4) won for the first time in more than a month. Edgar Renteria hit a two-run double three batters after Emmanuel Burriss broke up a scoreless game with a fifth-inning RBI single.

DODGERS 16, ROCKIES 6:

The visiting Dodgers used two big innings — a seven-run fourth and an eight-run seventh — to rout the Rockies. James Loney, Russell Martin, Juan Castro and Matt Kemp had three hits each, and Juan Pierre had a bases-loaded triple for the Dodgers, who matched their season high with 19 hits.

REDS 8, ASTROS 5:

Jonny Gomes had three RBIs and host Cincinnati made the most of three Houston errors, scoring eight unearned runs. Gomes had three hits for the Reds, while Jerry Hairston Jr., Ramon Hernandez, Adam Rosales and starter Aaron Harang (5-4) had two hits apiece.

MARLINS 5, PHILLIES 3:

Wes Helms homered and drove in four runs for visiting Florida. Chris Volstad (4-3) allowed three runs and six hits. Ryan Howard hit a pair of homers for the NL East-leading Phillies, while Jamie Moyer (3-5) failed in his fifth try to earn his 250th win.

METS 5, NATIONALS 2:

Gary Sheffield hit a tiebreaking three-run homer in the sixth inning for host New York that was upheld by a video review. John Maine (4-3) limited the hapless Nationals to one run and four hits in six innings.

AMERICAN LEAGUE

YANKEES 11, RANGERS 1:

Alex Rodriguez had a perfect response for the hearty boos, matching a career high with five hits to lead visiting New York. Rodriguez also drove in four runs in his first game in Texas since admitting earlier this year that he used steroids while playing for the Rangers from 2001-03. Phil Hughes (3-2) tossed eight shutout innings for New York.

WHITE SOX 17, ANGELS 3:

Jim Thome surpassed Mike Schmidt for 13th place on the career home run list, and Jermaine Dye and Paul Konerko also went deep for visiting Chicago. Thome helped stake John Danks (4-3) to an 11-3 lead in the third with his 549th home run. The Angels' Vladimir Guerrero (pectoral muscle) was 0-for-4 in his first game since April 15.

ORIOLES 4, BLUE JAYS 1:

Jeremy Guthrie allowed one run in seven innings, Aubrey Huff had two RBIs and host Baltimore extended Toronto's losing streak to seven. Guthrie (4-4) gave up seven hits. Danys Baez worked the eighth and George Sherrill got three outs for his 10th save.

RED SOX 6, TWINS 5:

Jason Bay and Kevin Youkilis hit two-run doubles, and Boston started a 10-game road trip with a victory. Jonathan Papelbon survived a two-out, two-run homer in the ninth by pinch-hitter Joe Mauer to get his 12th save.

ATHLETICS 6, MARINERS 1:

Travis Buck homered and scored three runs, and Adam Kennedy had a career high-tying four hits for host Oakland. Brett Anderson (2-4) pitched six strong innings for his second major league win.

TIGERS 13, ROYALS 1:

Justin Verlander (5-2) held Kansas City to five hits through seven scoreless innings and Miguel Cabrera had four of visiting Detroit's season-high 19 hits. Cabrera drove in three runs for the Tigers.