News
Correia handed loss in final outing of '09
Seventh inning unravels against Padres starter's ex-team
By Corey Brock / MLB.com
10/03/09 1:49 AM EST
SAN DIEGO -- He didn't quite make it to 200 innings, though Kevin Correia did manage to make each and every one of his 33 starts this season, something that to himself and his manager was every bit as momentous as his 12 victories. No, Correia didn't end the 2009 season with the splash he wanted, nor was he as good as he was his last time out in tossing a shutout, but his loss to the Giants on Friday didn't dampen his body of work in the least. Correia allowed three earned runs in six innings but was tagged with a loss as the Giants topped the Padres, 7-2, before a crowd of 26,776 in the first game of a three-game series to end the season. Final score aside, Correia's season has to be pegged as an unabashed success. He was the lone remaining member of the Opening Day starting rotation, reached career highs in a number of pitching categories and, really, went places he had never been. "That's huge for me. I've never done it ... to go from day one at the start of the season to the end," said Correia. who finished with 198 innings this season. "... I think it established myself as a starting pitcher in the Major Leagues." The icing on the cake for Correia? "I'm glad it was here, in my hometown," he said. Correia brought into the game a streak of 20 1/3 consecutive scoreless innings and then Friday allowed one run in the first six innings before getting into trouble in the seventh inning against the Giants (87-73). San Francisco scored six runs in the inning, though only two were earned as shortstop Everth Cabrera made two errors in the inning. Correia's final line -- six innings, six hits, five runs (three earned), one walk and four strikeouts. "He was great through six and then got some pitches up in the seventh inning," Padres manager Bud Black said. "... It sort of unraveled from there. Everth had a couple of plays that got away from him." By and large, though, Black, a former pitcher himself, was certainly impressed with the body of work this season from Correia, who was cast adrift by San Francisco after last season. He signed a Minor League contract with the Padres worth $750,000. Correia also earned an additional $350,000 in incentives that were tied to the number of starts he made in 2009. "The second half, he really came on strong. We saw some strides in the mechanics, strides in utilization of all four pitches," Black said. "... He really threw the ball well and had a great season." The Padres (74-86), coming off a two-game sweep of the Dodgers, couldn't get much in the way of offense going against Giants starter Barry Zito or a quarter of relievers who came into the game after Zito left with a left elbow bruise after being drilled by a line drive off the bat of Adrian Gonzalez. "It got me as square as it could get me," Zito said. "But the baseball gods were with me. I didn't die. It didn't break." Oscar Salazar had a two-out RBI single to left field in the first inning, though the Padres wouldn't score again until the seventh inning when Henry Blanco drilled his sixth home run of the season.Corey Brock is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
