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SAN FRANCISCO(AP) After struggling for the better part of the last month, the
San Diego Padres
were looking for any sort of positive sign to take into the All-Star break.
They finally got it.
Kevin Kouzmanoff
and
Eliezer Alfonzo
hit three-run homers,
Will Venable
also homered and set a career-high with four hits, and the Padres beat the
San Francisco Giants
10-4 to snap a season-high seven-game losing streak.
''You kind of get to the point where you have to prove you can do it, and we did today,'' winning pitcher
Kevin Correia
said. ''We've got guys that can hit the ball. We just have to start doing it on a consistent basis.''
San Diego scored six runs total its previous four games but had that many in the first three innings off San Francisco starter
Barry Zito
. The Padres finished with a season-high 10 runs, the last major league team to reach double digits in scoring this season.
Kouzmanoff and Alfonzo both homered off Zito, who was tagged with his team-leading ninth loss of the season.
Luis Rodriguez
added a pair of RBIs as San Diego had five different players drive in runs.
''It's a good win for the guys to be in a type of game like that because they know we're capable of that,'' Padres manager
Bud Black
said. ''We play close games because we have the pitching, for the most part, to keep us in games. We just haven't scored at
the rate like we did today.''
The Padres, who were held without a hit by San Francisco lefty
Jonathan Sanchez
on Friday, broke out of their offensive slump early against Zito.
Kouzmanoff's homer came after
Everth Cabrera
and Venable - son of former Giants outfielder
Max Venable
- led off the game with singles. Alfonzo's three-run shot to left in the third drove in Venable and Kouzmanoff, who went a
combined 8 for 10 with seven runs scored.
That was enough for Correia (6-7), who gave up three runs on eight hits in 5 2-3 innings in his second career start against
his former team. The right-hander retired 11 of 12 during one stretch and got some help from his defense before tiring in
the sixth.
He gave up a pair of one-out singles in the first but got out of the inning with a 5-4-3 double play, then held the Giants
offense in check until
John Bowker
's solo homer in the fifth.
Correia, who pitched for San Francisco from 2003-08, didn't get the decision the first time he pitched against his former
team earlier this season but earned the win this time.
''It wasn't that big a deal. It felt like another start, really,'' Correia said. ''I'm comfortable pitching here and I've
pitched against the Giants earlier this year. At this point I think I've earned the right to go back out there every five
days. Obviously I didn't always earn it when I was with the Giants. I kind of pitched my way out of the rotation a couple
times.''
Correia ran into trouble in the sixth after giving up a two-out double to
Bengie Molina
and walking
Nate Schierholtz
.
Edgar Renteria
and Bowker followed with RBI singles to chase Correia before reliever
Luke Gregerson
struck out
Juan Uribe
to end the inning.
San Francisco added another run in the ninth off San Diego closer
Heath Bell
.
Zito (5-9) had yet another rocky outing. The left-hander retired the side in order just once and was booed heavily by the
crowd after surrendering the three-run homer to Alfonzo.
The booing continued when Zito left the mound after giving up three hits in the fifth. All three runners eventually scored,
marking the third time in Zito's career that he has given up nine runs or more in a game.
The loss prevented San Francisco from reaching the 50-win mark before the All-Star break for the first time since 2003.
Bowker hit his first homer of the season and his first since Sept. 24, 2008, in the fifth for the Giants, who still head into
the All-Star break with the third best winning percentage in the National League behind the
Los Angeles Dodgers
and Philadelphia.
''I told the guys to enjoy the break because they should be proud of the way they played in the first half,'' manager
Bruce Bochy
said. ''We need to keep the momentum going. It's going to take everybody to make this work.''
Venable homered off San Francisco reliever
Merkin Valdez
in the eighth.
NOTES: Kouzmanoff had four hits for the third time in his career ... Molina was back in San Francisco's lineup after taking
two days off to be with his wife for the birth of the couple's first child, daughter Jayda Marie, who was born early Saturday
afternoon. ... The Giants had been a season-high 11 games over .500 before the loss.
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