Adrian Gonzalez homered and drove in three runs and Chase Headley put together a four-hit afternoon as San Diego beat the Philadelphia Phillies 6-5 on pinch-hitter Oscar Salazar’s two-out infield single in the 10th inning, part of a 16-hit outburst by the Padres.
Nick Hundley’s hot hitting continued, as he also homered for the Padres, who scored three times in the first inning against Joe Blanton.
Yet, as was the case in the first two games of the series, the Phillies answered right back and led 5-3 before the second inning was through, behind Ryan Howard’s 3 RBI to help chase starter Kevin Correia in the second inning.
The Padres clawed back in the fourth on Gonzalez’s two-out single and tied it at 5 on Hundley’s homer leading off the fifth.
Headley opened the 10th with a single off Danys Baez (2-2) and advanced to third on a sacrifice and a grounder to second. After an intentional walk to Tony Gwynn Jr., Salazar singled deep into the shortstop hole to put the Padres ahead 6-5.
Heath Bell got through a shaky 10th inning for his 15th save of the season. Bell issued a walk to Placido Polanco with one out, but was thrown out at third by Gwynn, in a potential game-saving play, trying to advance on a Chase Utley single. Howard also singled to put runners at the corners, but Jayson Werth struck out on a 97 mph fastball to end the game.
Whenever any game gets into the bullpen, the Padres have a distinct advantage, and they utilized that advantage on Sunday. Four Padres relievers delivered 8 1/3 scoreless innings.
After Correia left, trailing 5-3, Sean Gallagher delivered 3 1/3 scoreless innings, tying his longest outing of the season. After the Padres came back to tie it, Ryan Webb delivered two scoreless innings yielding just one hit. Mike Adams followed with two more scoreless innings, and finally the Padres broke through.
Padres relievers lead the National League in ERA, strikeouts and have held opposing hitters to a league-low .207 batting average. After the seventh inning this season, the Padres have outscored the opposition 25-13, they are a league-best 6-3 in extra inning games and 8-4 in games decided in the last at-bat.
The much needed victory allows the Padres to avoid their first three-game losing streak of the season with and sets up a chance for a series split tomorrow with the Phillies on ESPN’s Monday Night Baseball.
Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com