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Chan Ho Park
has made the most of his recent outings at Safeco Field.
He'll try to win his fifth straight decision at Safeco on Sunday afternoon when the
San Diego Padres
try to avoid a three-game sweep by the
Seattle Mariners
.
Park (2-1, 3.27 ERA) is 4-0 with a sparkling 1.59 ERA in six starts at Seattle since losing his first visit to Safeco on July
9, 2000. He's limited the Mariners to a .194 batting average and no homers in his unbeaten stretch - all with the
Texas Rangers
.
The right-hander has yet to lose on the road this season, going 1-0 with a 3.79 ERA in three starts.
He was matched up with NL wins leader
Brandon Webb
in his last outing and allowed four runs - one earned - and five hits over seven innings, earning no decision in a 5-4 loss
at Arizona on Monday.
''He's a competitor,'' catcher
Josh Bard
said about Park. ''You could see that in the way he turned it up a notch and gave us a chance to win the game. I love working
with him.''
Since Bard was acquired from Boston on May 1, he has caught all three starts by Park. The backup catcher could be in the lineup
again Sunday since manager
Bruce Bochy
has used veteran
Mike Piazza
as the designated hitter in the first two games of this series.
''A lot depends on Mike,'' Bochy said. ''I will always check with him.''
Bard is hitting .357 (10-for-28) in 13 games with San Diego (23-20).
The Padres' battery will try to a better job of keeping Mariners catcher
Kenji Johjima
in the ballpark. Johjima homered for the second straight game for Seattle (19-25) in a 6-3 victory on Saturday.
San Diego has dropped four out of its last five games on its nine-game road trip after opening it with a three-game sweep
of the
Chicago Cubs
.
One reason the Padres have had trouble in this series is
Brian Giles
' 1-for-8 performance. Giles began the series on an eight-game hitting streak, in which he was 10-for-30.
Mariners right fielder
Ichiro Suzuki
is batting .400 (24-for-60) during a 14-game hitting streak. Suzuki has struggled at home against San Diego in his career,
though, hitting .206 in 14 games.
Felix Hernandez
(2-5, 5.19) will make the first interleague start of his career for Seattle. Hernandez allowed career highs of 10 runs and
11 hits over four-plus innings in a 12-6 loss at Oakland on Tuesday.
''My pitches have all been good, but basically I couldn't control them,'' Hernandez said through an interpreter. ''Every pitch
I threw went up.''
A return to Safeco Field could help the 20-year-old right-hander, who is 1-3 with a 2.55 ERA at home this year. Hernandez
has struggled on the road, posting an 8.68 ERA and allowing opponents to bat .394.
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