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SAN DIEGO(AP) Petco Park has never looked better to the
San Diego Padres
.
The Padres capped the first 9-0 homestand in franchise history on Sunday with a 7-2 win over the punchless
Chicago Cubs
that included small ball and large ball at their spacious downtown ballpark.
Kevin Kouzmanoff
hit a three-run home run and finished with four RBIs,
Chris Young
pitched well and added a two-run single, and the Padres threw in a suicide squeeze bunt for good measure.
San Diego's nine-game winning streak is the longest in the NL this season and the longest active one in the majors. Even so,
it merely pulled the Padres back to .500. They also swept the Reds and Giants on this homestand.
The homestand came after a 0-6 road trip, which included three losses to the Cubs at Wrigley Field. It also included some
upheaval, when ace
Jake Peavy
vetoed a trade to the
Chicago White Sox
and the Padres traded
Jody Gerut
to Milwaukee for Tony Gwynn Jr., whose father spent his entire 20-year Hall of Fame career in San Diego.
''This is maybe the most fun experience I've had here in San Diego as far as the team winning, especially given the external
distractions that have gone on this past week,'' Young said.
''This team's got some character to it, there's some fight in the guys,'' he added. ''We certainly weren't going to hang our
heads after that last road trip. But now we've got to continue it. It's a long season. There's still a lot of baseball to
play.''
It was San Diego's largest margin of victory since a 6-1 win against the Giants at home on April 12.
The Cubs didn't even score seven runs total on their entire road trip. Their offense disappeared during an 0-6 trip, scoring
only five runs total. They lost their season-high seventh straight and tumbled to .500. It's their longest losing streak since
May 2006, when they lost eight straight.
''I sometimes feel like we've been slapped around this past week, embarrassed,'' said
Ted Lilly
, who took the loss.
Manager
Lou Piniella
held a pregame meeting, which he termed ''a positive talk.''
''Hopefully it will bear some fruit starting tomorrow at home,'' he said. ''I said the things I had to say. The players have
to play on the field. We can talk all we want, we can be as positive as we want but they have to get the job done on the field.''
Reed Johnson
, who hit a two-run homer, said Piniella's talk should have some influence.
''It's not a case where you have a bunch of guys in the clubhouse who have cashed it in or who have given up,'' he said. ''I
think guys may be pressing too hard. But we have too many good players not to turn this thing around.''
Young (4-2) added to the Cubs' misery by hitting a two-run single and holding them to two runs and four hits in seven innings.
The 6-foot-10 right-hander had his first career multi-RBI game and third multi-hit game.
Kouzmanoff tied his career high for four RBIs. He doubled off Lilly (5-4) in the sixth to bring in
Adrian Gonzalez
. After the Cubs closed to 4-2 on Johnson's homer, Kouzmanoff hit a three-run shot off
Aaron Heilman
in the seventh, his fourth.
Gonzalez was aboard on an intentional walk after his older brother, Edgar, led off with a pinch-hit double.
Young retired the first 14 batters before
Mike Fontenot
singled to left-center with two outs in the fifth.
Young came to bat with the bases loaded and one out in the bottom of the inning and hit Lilly's first pitch to left-center
to bring in
Chase Headley
and
Drew Macias
. Headley singled and Macias doubled before
Josh Wilson
was walked intentionally to bring up Young.
David Eckstein
followed with a suicide squeeze that brought in Wilson for a 3-0 lead.
Young's only mistake came in the seventh, when he allowed Johnson's two-run homer on a high fastball. It was Johnson's first.
''I was trying to get it away and it ran back kind of middle, middle-in,'' Young said. ''I was also trying to be aggressive
and challenging at a point where I knew we had a four-run lead. The last thing I wanted was baserunners. I wanted them to
hit their way on instead of walks. It was a 2-1 pitch and he hit it out. I tip my cap to him.''
Young struck out four and walked none.
Lilly allowed five runs and eight hits in 6 1-3 innings. He struck out four and walked two.
Notes: It was San Diego's first three-game sweep of the Cubs in San Diego since July 11-13, 1988. ... San Diego 2B Eckstein
was back in the starting lineup two games after getting hit in the chest by a pitch from
Carlos Zambrano
in the series opener on Friday night. .... Cubs 1B-cleanup hitter
Derrek Lee
was a late scratch due to illness.
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