NewsBlack enjoys Friars' crisp victory
Gonzalez's 20th homer, Gaudin's 9 K's down Rockies
By Corey Brock / MLB.com
05/31/09 7:39 PM ET
DENVER -- As he settled in for the bottom of the ninth inning Sunday, Padres manager Bud Black took his customary spot on the top step of the visitors' dugout at Coors Field, prepared for, well, just about anything."It just seems in this park, funny things happen," Black said.
Black, in his third season as manager of the Padres, has certainly been a witness to such "funny things," going back to game No. 163 here in 2007, Heath Bell's first blown save of the season Saturday and plenty of rollercoaster moments between.
Instead of high drama on a warm afternoon, Black was treated to a bit of the mundane, a 1-2-3 ninth inning in which Bell put the finishing touches on the Padres' 5-2 victory over the Rockies before a crowd of 30,223.
The Padres (25-25), who completed a 3-3 road trip to Arizona and Colorado, got the best from starting pitcher Chad Gaudin (2-1) on Sunday, as the right-hander carried a shutout into the seventh inning, struck out nine and, better still, didn't walk a batter.
They also got another mammoth home run from Adrian Gonzalez, who might be the only member of the Padres traveling party not looking forward to returning to PETCO Park on Monday for the start of a three-game series against the Phillies.
For the second time in as many days, Gonzalez hit a three-run home run, this time in the second inning off Jorge De La Rosa. With two out and an 0-2 count on Gonzalez, De La Rosa tried to run a fastball up and away, only to have the Padres first baseman drive it out the other way.
It was the 20th home run of the season for Gonzalez, who leads the Major Leagues in long balls. It was also his 15th home run on the road, which also leads the Major Leagues and gave him the franchise record for being the fastest to 20 home runs (179 at-bats).
"If you're going to throw a fastball there, it has to be in a place it can't be hit," Rockies manager Jim Tracy said.
Better still, Gonzalez's 20th home run came in the Padres' 50th game of the season. A year ago, Gonzalez didn't hit his 20th home run until the Padres 73rd game, and that was on the way to a career-high 36 home runs.
"He's a great hitter. He's got tremendous hand-eye coordination," Black said of Gonzalez. "He doesn't have a one-dimensional swing. He hits it from line to line. It doesn't surprise me."
Those three runs were enough for Gaudin, who opened the game by striking out six of the first eight hitters he faced. He worked fast, relying on fastball command with the use of a slider that kept a dangerous lineup guessing.
"He was in control of everything," Padres shortstop Josh Wilson said. "He made the first two innings look unbelievably easy against some pretty good hitters."
This was certainly a far cry from his past start five days ago in Arizona in which Gaudin had five walks in 5 1/3 innings with seven earned runs. On Sunday, he essentially challenged himself to bear down and throw more strikes, especially early in the count.
Heading into Sunday's game, Gaudin had walked at least four batters in a start four starts, which led to a vis-a-vis with Black, who preached to Gaudin and the rest of the staff the importance of steering clear of walks.
"I really put it in my head and focused on it [getting ahead in the count] and not trying to be too perfect," he said. "I really wanted to dial it in [command] and get ahead of hitters and attack. I took less stress off myself.
"I came out and located my fastball and got ahead of the hitters. When you do that, it can allow you to expand the strike zone and make guys uncomfortable."
While Gaudin's arm was certainly responsible for his blissful run, his defense chimed in with two nice plays in consecutive innings to wipe out two possible scoring threats from the Rockies (20-29).
In the sixth inning, after Dexter Fowler singled to begin the inning, Gaudin induced a flyout by Clint Barmes before Todd Helton scorched a ball on the ground right to Wilson at shortstop, who short-hopped the ball, spun around and started a 6-4-3 double play to end the inning.
"With how hard he [Helton] hit it, I think the momentum sort of spun me around where I could start it," Wilson said.
In the seventh inning, with runners at first and second base and pinch-hitter Seth Smith batting, Gaudin got Smith looking at a two-strike fastball that turned into a double play when catcher Henry Blanco threw out Troy Tulowitzki trying to steal third base.
The Rockies would score two runs in the seventh inning, though one was unearned when Scott Hairston dropped a fly ball in center field. Rookie reliever Greg Burke got the final two outs of the inning and Edward Mujica worked a scoreless eighth inning to get the ball to Bell, who certainly didn't have much time to bemoan his blown save Saturday.
Bell got Ian Stewart on a fly ball to left field and then retired Tulowitzki on a ground ball at third baseman Kevin Kouzmanoff, who knocked the ball down and threw to first base. The last out was a strikeout, as Bell got Yorvit Torrealba to chase a spinning curveball.
"I think I responded very well," Bell said. "Every day is a new day. Every day is a new day and I showed I can blow a save and come back and get the save the next day."
Fifteen pitches for Bell's 15th save, three outs and no drama. Just the way Black likes it, though it's never the way it seems to go in this ballpark.
"In this park, 4-0 is like 1-0, it's not much," Black said.
Corey Brock is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
