Bullpen Struggles As Dodgers Lose To Padres 9-3
SAN DIEGO (CBSLA.com/AP) — Will Venable homered and hit a bases-loaded triple for the San Diego Padres, who rebounded from a dreadful six-game trip to win their home opener 9-3 against the rival Los Angeles Dodgers on Tuesday at reconfigured Petco Park.
Venable tied his career-high with four RBIs. He homered in the first and his two-out triple highlighted a five-run eighth against three Dodgers relievers. The Padres sent 11 batters to the plate that inning, five of whom walked.
Nick Hundley also homered off Josh Beckett for the Padres, who were outhomered 10-1 and outscored 40-14 in going 1-5 in a swing through New York and Colorado.
Venable's homer in the first landed in the first row behind the Jack Daniel's Old No. 7 Deck on top of Petco Park's new right-field fence, which was brought in 11 feet. It would have been a homer under the old configuration.
Hundley homered leading off the fifth off the facade of the balcony on the second level of the Western Metal Supply Co. brick warehouse in the left-field corner.
Juan Uribe of the Dodgers was the first player to benefit from the closer fences. He hit a two-run shot that landed on top of the new fence in the fourth, tying the game at 2. Adrian Gonzalez was aboard on a leadoff single.
The Padres spent between $2.5 million and $3.5 million to bring in the fences from the home run porch in the right-field corner to the right-center gap, and in left-center, in an attempt to make the spacious downtown park play a little fairer.
After Venable homered, Yonder Alonso doubled to right-center with two outs in the first and scored on rookie Jedd Gyorko's single.
Hundley's homer gave San Diego a 3-2 lead.
The Dodgers tied it in the seventh when Carl Crawford hit a leadoff single against Andrew Cashner, advanced on two groundouts and scored on Adrian Gonzalez's single.
San Diego regained the lead in the bottom half on pinch-hitter Mark Kotsay's RBI double. Cameron Maybin reached on a leadoff infield single and was sacrificed along by Hundley, setting up Kotsay.
Venable was intentionally walked with two outs to get to Carlos Quentin, who was hit on the right wrist by a pitch from Ronald Belisario (0-1).
Quentin, who's been slow to recover after offseason surgery on his right knee, immediately signaled for trainer Todd Hutcheson. After speaking for a few minutes with Hutcheson and manager Bud Black, Quentin came out. Yonder Alonso flied out to right to end the threat.
Luke Gregerson (1-0) got the last out of the seventh, the only batter he faced, for the win.
Beckett allowed three runs and six hits in five innings, struck out four and walked one. Padres starter Clayton Richard also went five, allowing two runs and eight hits, with three strikeouts and three walks.
Chad Billingsley is expected to get his first start of the season Wednesday for the Dodgers, and is set to go up against former Dodger Eric Stults, who actually entered the game to pinch-hit for Richard in the fifth inning.
(TM and © Copyright 2012 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2012 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
