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The
San Diego Padres
are holding on to a slim lead atop the NL West. A series with the
Washington Nationals
may help them keep it for at least the weekend.
The Padres look to continue their dominance of the Nationals when the teams open a three-game set at Petco Park on Friday.
Adrian Gonzalez
had three hits and three RBIs to help San Diego avoid a sweep and beat Houston 5-2 on Thursday. The Padres (56-52), who snapped
a three-game losing streak, have a one-game lead over second-place Arizona in the division.
San Diego, hoping to win consecutive games for the first time since a four-game winning streak from July 23-26, will face
a Washington team it has beaten five straight times. The Padres swept a three-game series in Washington from July 7-9, and
won the final two games of a series in San Diego last Sept. 17-18.
The Nationals (48-60) are in last place in the NL East and own the NL's third-worst record.
Gonzalez, who is batting .385 (5-for-13) with two home runs and four RBIs in his career against the Nationals, had just four
RBIs in 14 games before Thursday.
''Today was a big day for us, first of all not to get swept and second of all to get back on a winning streak,'' said Gonzalez,
who leads the team with 19 home runs.
San Diego sends
Chris Young
(9-4, 3.57 ERA), its most consistent starter, to the mound in the series opener. The right-hander is 6-1 with a 3.06 ERA in
his last 11 starts.
Young gave up one run and seven hits in five innings of a 4-2 victory at Colorado on Saturday. He earned a win in his first
career start against Washington, allowing two runs and seven hits while striking out nine in six innings of a 5-2 victory
on July 8.
The Nationals had a chance for a three-game sweep of San Francisco, but lost the finale 8-6 on Wednesday.
Alfonso Soriano
homered twice, his fourth multihomer game this season and 15th of his career.
He led off the game with a shot to right-center - his seventh leadoff homer and 30th of his career - and hit a two-run homer
in the seventh. Soriano is batting .291 with 34 home runs, 70 RBIs and 27 stolen bases.
Ramon Ortiz
(7-9, 4.84) will be looking for his first win in three starts against the Padres. He is 0-2 with a 5.54 ERA against them,
and gave up three runs and nine hits in 6 2-3 innings of a 3-2 loss to San Diego on July 7.
In his last start, the right-hander allowed three runs and nine hits in 6 1-3 innings, but didn't receive a decision in Washington's
4-3 loss to the
Los Angeles Dodgers
on Sunday. In Ortiz's nine losses, the Nationals have scored a total of 17 runs.
Reliever
Ryan Wagner
has struggled since the Nationals acquired him in a trade with Cincinnati on July 13. He gave up two solo home runs Wednesday,
and has surrendered five runs in 2 2-3 innings with Washington.
Wagner said he is still working on changing his pitching mechanics. When he was with the Reds, Wagner threw over the top,
but the Nationals are now trying to get him to throw three-quarters.
''I'm starting to get good movement back on the ball,'' Wagner said. ''It's just trying to fine-tune things, get location
back and get where I need to be.''
This is the final series of Washington's nine-game road trip. The Nationals have lost four of the first six contests.
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