News
Young left with nothing to show after start
Righty goes seven strong; Gregerson allows walk-off single
By Corey Brock / MLB.com
05/03/09 3:06 AM ET
LOS ANGELES -- On consecutive nights, the San Diego Padres threw their finest at the Los Angeles Dodgers in a former Cy Young Award winner and another pitcher who many feel has the stuff to win that award one day.It wasn't enough.
These two pitchers, Jake Peavy on Friday and Chris Young on Saturday, certainly didn't disappoint. Both worked deep into their respective starts, holding the Dodgers to next to nothing in terms of offense.
And it still wasn't enough.
Young followed Peavy's eight scoreless innings Friday by allowing one run in his seven innings, though, like Peavy, he was left with nothing to show for it as the Dodgers won a game in walk-off fashion for the second time in as many nights.
Andre Ethier's game-winning single in the bottom of the 10th inning lifted Los Angeles to a 2-1 victory over the Padres before a crowd of 47,680 at Dodger Stadium, which sent the Padres to their 10th loss in their past 12 games.
Young, rebounding nicely from the worst start in his career, held the Dodgers to one run on six hits with two walks and five strikeouts. The one run, as things have gone recently, hurt them nearly as bad as Ethier's walk-off hit.
The Padres (11-13), who have scored exactly one run in their last 21 innings, managed a total of three hits against Randy Wolf and three relievers. Stranding too many runners in scoring position has been a lowlight of late, though Saturday there were very few of those.
"We're in a little bit of a team slump," Padres manager Bud Black said. "We have had opportunities the last couple of nights, and we haven't got that clutch hit. We have been unable to do that. If you look back over our past 10 games, you've seen that."
When the Padres were going good early last month, it was largely due to the work of the bullpen as well as timely hitting, particularly with runners in scoring position. The Padres scored in bunches and made last season's offensive struggles look like a distant memory.
Now it's come to this: One run in their lpast 21 innings. Given these Dodgers (17-8) have also had two well-pitched games in as many days, but the lack of offensive punch in the Padres' lineup has grown more than just conspicuous.
"We need to find out a way to get it done," Young said. "They're a good team, but we can be a good team. We need to figure out how to get it done as a whole. It's just tough. These last three nights, it's been something here or there. It's a play they made, a pitch they made, getting that hit."
The Padres jumped out to a 1-0 lead when Edgar Gonzalez -- getting a rare start in right field for Brian Giles -- lined a solo home run. But the Padres would get just one more hit over the next eight innings.
The Padres got the first two runners on in the sixth inning when Wolf walked leadoff hitter David Eckstein and Gonzalez.
But Scott Hairston flew out to shallow right field for the first out. Adrian Gonzalez then lined a ball up the middle that Wolf got part of his glove on, slowing it down enough so that Orlando Hudson could smother it and keep Eckstein from scoring.
With the bases now loaded, Dodgers manager Joe Torre went to his bullpen for Ramon Troncoso, who got Kevin Kouzmanoff to drive a sinker into the ground for an inning-ending, 6-4-3 double play.
The Padres got scoreless innings of relief from Edwin Moreno and Cla Meredith before rookie Luke Gregerson loaded the bases in the 10th inning. Rafael Furcal and Hudson singled to start the inning, and Manny Ramirez was walked intentionally to get to Ethier.
"It's tough to lose in the last at-bat two nights in a row," Padres catcher Nick Hundley said. "We get our big two [Peavy and Young] going, and you expect to win those two games."
Only a combined 15 innings, 13 strikeouts and one run from Peavy and Young weren't enough to get the Padres a victory.
"Those are two tough games," Black said. "We played well. They just got the hits when it counted."
Corey Brock is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
