SAN DIEGO -- Brian Giles put a night of frustration
behind him with one swing of the bat.
Giles doubled in the 14th inning to score Geoff Blum as the San
Diego Padres edged the New York Mets, 2-1, to even their
four-game series at a game apiece.
After solid starts from both pitchers, neither team reached
second base in the extra innings until the 14th. Blum led off
with a single to center field against Chad Bradford (0-1) before
Giles, who was 0-for-5 with a walk previously, drove a pitch to
left field that sliced away from Cliff Floyd, allowing Blum to
just beat the relay throw home by shortstop Jose Reyes.
"It took a little longer than we would've liked, but it was a
big win for us," Giles said. "We had some opportunities and
couldn't get it done, but we hung around and hung around, and
found a way at the end."
The leadoff single was Blum's first hit of the season as the
veteran utilityman continued to show a knack for extra-inning
heroics. It was Blum's 14th-inning home run in Game Three of
last season's World Series that helped the Chicago White Sox
sweep Houston.
"It was nice to get a hit to lead off that inning with (Giles)
coming up behind me," Blum said. "He put the ball in play down
the left field line and for a second, I thought Cliff was going
to have a shot to knock it down. My first thought was just to
get to third base, but (third base coach Glenn Hoffman) was
waving me around and we scored."
Brian Sweeney (1-0) allowed one run over three scoreless innings
to notch the win for the Padres, whose four pitchers yielded
just seven hits and two walks.
"It was a lot of fun to win that game," Sweeney said. "We knew
that if we held it close, the boys would come through. When
Blum scored that run, it was just a lot of fun to be a part of."
Woody Williams pitched brilliantly for San Diego, allowing a run
and four hits in eight innings.
"You can't say enough about what our pitching did tonight,"
Padres manager Bruce Bochy said. "It started with Woody, and
the bullpen stepped up and did a tremendous job. They saved us
there until we finally came through with the big hit. That's a
nice win."
New York rookie Brian Bannister managed to escape several jams
for the second straight start. The righthander yielded four
hits and six walks but allowed just one run in five innings. In
Sunday's win against Milwaukee, the son of former major league
pitcher Floyd Bannister allowed six hits and five walks but just
one run in five frames.
"Another game where the command wasn't quite there," Mets
manager Willie Randolph said. "He seems to play that Houdini
act and gets out of things, but his pitch count was up high and
we had to get him out of there after five."
The Mets' bullpen was nearly as impressive as San Diego's as six
relievers combined to allow just two runners to reach scoring
position prior to the 14th, including two scoreless innings by
Bradford.
"We only had one pitcher left in the bullpen, so we were going
to take (Bradford) as far as he could go," Randolph said. "If
he makes pitches, it's a different story. That's all I had, so
there's nothing you can do about that."
New York got on the board in the fourth inning on Carlos
Delgado's 376th career homer, tying him with Carlton Fisk for
58th place all-time. San Diego scratched across the tying run
in the fifth when Josh Barfield singled, stole second, moved to
third on a double-play grounder and scored on a single by Adrian
Gonzalez.
Barfield and Gonzalez had three hits apiece for the Padres, who
left 15 runners on base.
"There are so many things you can look back on in that game,"
Bochy said. "Sure, we left some men on base, but we were
fighting hard. It was a big win for us."