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  Monday, Apr. 10 6:05pm ET
D-Backs' 5 homers spoil Padres' home opener
 
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SAN DIEGO (AP) -- Todd Stottlemyre honored his sick father's request.

The Arizona right-hander and his father, New York Yankees pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre, spoke by phone on Sunday shortly before the elder Stottlemyre notified his team and the media that he has a form of cancer.

Todd Stottlemyre
Todd Stottlemyre, despite taking a line drive off his right knee in the first, went six innings for his second win.
"I could tell in his voice he was going to have a tough time with telling the club. The last thing he said to me was, 'Win one for me tomorrow,' " Todd Stottlemyre said, pausing a few seconds to compose himself.

The son did just that, staying in the game despite getting hit on the left wrist by a line drive in the first inning Monday. He pitched six strong innings as the Diamondbacks spoiled the San Diego Padres' home opener, 8-4.

"I was probably pressing a little bit," Stottlemyre said. "I was thinking so much about the result. Really, probably for the first time in my career, I felt very selfish from the standpoint that I wanted to win. I'm glad it's over. I'm glad we got the win."

The Diamondbacks tied their club record with five home runs, including two by Erubiel Durazo.

Stottlemyre said he thought the most about his father during the national anthem.

He also thought about him after taking Ryan Klesko's drive off his left wrist in the first inning. His glove went flying off and his hand went numb. "But in comparison to knowing what he's going to go through, having to go to the hospital, there was no way I was going to come out of that game today," he said.

Stottlemyre was taken to a hospital for X-rays, which were negative, and Arizona said he should be able to make his next scheduled start, on Saturday.

Mel Stottlemyre has known about the illness for a year, and made it public when he learned he needs chemotherapy. He has multiple myeloma, a cancer of the bone marrow in which malignant plasma cells are produced. Plasma cells are a critical part of the body's immune system.

"I know he's going to battle it," Todd Stottlemyre said. "We're out there playing a game, and what a great game it is, but in light of it all, he's in for the greatest battle of his life. He's been very courageous and very positive and if there's one guy who can do it, I know he can do it."

Stottlemyre, who lost a brother to leukemia, said his father's strength has made it easier on the family.

"We're probably taking it harder than he has. I hope when I grow up I can be just like him."

Manager Buck Showalter was impressed with Stottlemyre remaining in the game.

"Good Lord, if anybody's got reason to have excuses, it would be Todd Stottlemyre, if he wanted to make them. But that's not the way he's wired and that's not the way his mom and dad raised him."

Padres third baseman Phil Nevin was with Houston when Mel Stottlemyre was the Astros' pitching coach. Nevin wanted to talk with Todd Stottlemyre on Monday, but knew how intense he gets before starts.

"I have the utmost respect for that guy, especially what he's going through right now with his family," Nevin said.

Stottlemyre (2-0) held the Padres to three runs and seven hits in six innings. He also made a nice defensive play in the sixth, catching Eric Owens' liner and doubling Ryan Klesko at first.

Durazo hit two home runs, including a three-run shot, and Jay Bell, Steve Finley and Kelly Stinnett also connected.

Durazo had just two singles in 17 at-bats and no RBI coming in. He went 3-for-4 with a walk, a career-high four RBI and had his second two-homer game.

The 25-year-old from Hermosillo, Mexico, who went all the way from Double-A to the majors last year, homered to right-center leading off the fourth, then hit a three-run shot to left to chase Woody Williams with one out in the fifth, giving Arizona a 6-2 lead.

After Williams gave up the first four homers, Dan Serafini gave up the fifth, to Kelly Stinnett on the first pitch of the sixth inning.

Bell homered with two outs in the third to tie the game at 1. Finley, a former Padres center fielder in his second season with Arizona, followed Durazo's homer in the fourth with a solo shot of his own, to almost the same spot in right-center.

Williams (1-1), who grooved all four home-run pitches, had won his previous six decisions dating to Sept. 3. Williams gave up 33 homers last year, tied for fifth in the NL and three shy of his career high set in 1998 with Toronto. He also allowed four homers in a game last season, at Colorado on July 3 as the Padres' franchise-record 14-game winning streak ended.

Williams allowed six runs and seven hits in 4 1/3 innings.

Nevin hit his third homer, a leadoff shot to straightaway center in the sixth and also had a sacrifice fly in the first. David Newman homered in the ninth off Mike Morgan, who got his second save.

Game notes
The Diamondbacks have five five-homer games in their three seasons. Their previous one was last Aug. 4 against San Francisco. ... Bell and Finley have three homers each. ... The Padres play all four of the NL's 1999 playoff teams during April. They won two of three at New York last week; play four against Arizona; six against Houston, with three beginning Friday night; and end the month with three against Atlanta. Of the 16 games, 10 are at home. ... The crowd of 60,021 was the second-largest for a home opener and the 10th largest for a regular-season game.

 


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