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Saturday, Sep. 9 4:10pm ET
Padres still hoping to finish .500 | |||||
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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
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GAME LOG
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Don't call the San Diego Padres spoilers. They're just another tough team in a tough division the San Francisco Giants still plan on winning. Ryan Klesko's two-run homer capped San Diego's four-run third inning as the Padres beat Russ Ortiz and the NL West-leading Giants 7-3 Saturday. San Francisco's lead dropped to seven games over Arizona, which faced Florida later. A day after stopping the Giants' nine-game winning streak, San Diego won for the fifth time in six games. Manager Bruce Bochy said he expects the Giants (83-58) to outlast the Diamondbacks for the division title, but the last-place Padres (70-73) still have goals -- like reaching .500 and building momentum for next season. "It's an insult," Bochy said of the spoiler tag. "We're not even thinking about being a spoiler or raining on anybody's parade. I don't like being in this role, but it's up to us to play and win every game we can." The Padres won with several clutch hits and resourceful pitching from Brian Tollberg. All of San Diego's runs came with two outs, including all six scored against Ortiz (12-11). Ortiz, the NL's Pitcher of the Month for August, had his career-best seven-game winning streak snapped. His string of 20 straight scoreless innings also ended on a second day of shaky pitching for the Giants, whose bullpen blew a six-run lead Friday night. Though he struck out eight batters and retired the side in order in four of his six innings, Ortiz allowed six runs and seven hits in his worst outing since July 29. "It was bound to happen some time," Giants manager Dusty Baker said. "He was due to have a bad outing. It just came at a bad time because it makes two (losses) in a row." The Giants lost consecutive home games for the first time since June 10-11 against Seattle. San Francisco, 19-7 since Aug. 14, lost two straight games for just the second time in nearly a month. "We just have to brush it off, take a shower and get back here tomorrow," said Jeff Kent, who drove in two runs for San Francisco. "We didn't think (the playoff race) was going to be easy. I didn't predict that we'd bury the Diamondbacks. ... The best team will win the West. I think it will be us." Tollberg (4-3) allowed nine hits in six innings to win for just the second time in 14 starts. The Giants got at least one hit in each of the first six innings, but could only manage two runs on RBI singles from Kent and Marvin Benard. Bochy said Tollberg, a 27-year-old rookie who is the first player to pitch in both the independent Frontier League and the majors, has a good shot at making the Padres' rotation next season. "There aren't any easy outs in that lineup, but I was able to stay with guys even when I went deep into the count against them," Tollberg said. "It's all a learning process. Every good start builds momentum for me." Kent, who is Baker's choice for the NL's MVP award, drove in another run in the seventh, giving him 117 RBI on the year. Ortiz retired the first six batters he faced, but a leadoff walk to Ruben Rivera in the third set up a four-run burst. Damian Jackson and Desi Relaford each drove in a run, and Klesko hit his 25th homer to deep center field. "I felt good today, (and) I had good stuff," Ortiz said. "I fell behind a lot, and they were sitting on my fastball and taking advantage of it. The fact that they did it with two outs made it more frustrating for me." The Padres got two runs in the sixth on Rivera's two-run single, and another on pinch-hitter Ed Sprague's double in the seventh. Both teams played without their star sluggers. Barry Bonds was given the day off for San Francisco, while Phil Nevin has an abdominal strain that will keep him out for at least a week. Game notesJ.T. Snow had three hits for the Giants. ... Rivera and Relaford each stole bases against backup Giants catcher Doug Mirabelli. ... With a 3-1 count in the first inning, the Giants' Bill Mueller took what he thought was ball four and flung his bat toward the dugout. But umpire Marvin Hudson made a late strike call, and Mueller had to retrieve his bat from the Giants' young batboy, who was heading toward the dugout with it. Mueller walked on the next pitch. ... With Giants OF Armando Rios in Puerto Rico after the death of his grandmother and Bonds resting, the only left-handed bat on San Francisco's bench was INF Damon Minor, who flied out in his third major league at-bat in the sixth. | ALSO SEE Baseball Scoreboard San Diego Clubhouse San Francisco Clubhouse RECAPS NY Yankees 5 Boston 3
San Diego 7
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