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The
San Diego Padres
look to take over first place in the NL West when they send
Chris Young
to the mound to face the
Los Angeles Dodgers
on Sunday afternoon at Dodger Stadium.
San Diego (77-70) evened the four-game series at a game apiece by routing Los Angeles (78-70) 11-2 on Saturday. The Padres
moved within one-half game of the first-place Dodgers and also remained 1 1/2 games ahead of Philadelphia for the wild-card
lead.
Young (10-5, 3.77 ERA) is unbeaten in his last 22 road starts, including all 13 this year with San Diego. He's 9-0 with a
3.32 ERA on the road since he lost at the
Los Angeles Angels
on June 20, 2005, while pitching for Texas.
The 6-foot-10 right-hander kept his road streak intact Tuesday when he allowed two runs over five innings but did not receive
a decision in a 5-4, 11-inning loss at Cincinnati. It's the longest such streak in the majors since
Greg Maddux
went 22 straight starts without a loss away from home in 1997-98.
Young is 0-1 with a 3.33 ERA in four starts against the Dodgers this year.
Los Angeles regulars
Rafael Furcal
,
Nomar Garciaparra
and J.D. Drew are a combined 5-for-32 against Young in the four meetings.
San Diego used three two-run homers in an eight-run third inning to take control Saturday.
Mike Cameron
,
Todd Walker
and
Adrian Gonzalez
all connected for the Padres after the trio went hitless (0-for-7 with three walks) in a 3-1 loss in the series opener Friday.
''You lose the first one and it puts a little more pressure on you,'' Padres manager
Bruce Bochy
said. ''So to come back and play the way we did was huge. The club's been resilient all year and they showed it again.''
San Diego finished with 13 hits one night after
Greg Maddux
and two relievers combined on a two-hitter.
''For a moment, it looked like a driving range out there,'' Los Angeles manager Grady Little said. ''You gotta laugh to keep
from crying. But nobody got hurt and we'll be out there again tomorrow.''
The Dodgers fell to 4-12 against the Padres and their offense has struggled all year in the series. San Diego has a 2.90 ERA
against Los Angeles, including a 1.89 ERA in the last seven meetings.
Garciaparra missed the loss with a strained left quadriceps suffered in Friday's victory and is listed as day-to-day.
''I don't think it's real serious, but we have to make sure he can move before he can play,'' Little said.
Garciaparra is 9-for-46 this year against San Diego. Drew is even worse at 6-for-47 with 13 strikeouts.
Padres reliever
Cla Meredith
enters with a scoreless streak of 33 2-3 innings - the longest in the majors since
Pedro Martinez
pitched 35 consecutive scoreless innings for Boston in 2002.
Los Angeles starter
Derek Lowe
(14-8, 3.77) is 5-0 with a 2.50 ERA over his last seven appearances. He endured his poorest outing of that stretch Tuesday,
when he allowed five runs and 10 hits over five innings in a 9-8, 11-inning loss at the
Chicago Cubs
.
''I really let them back in the game,'' said Lowe, who had been staked to a 7-0 lead. ''I couldn't put a stop to the inning.
With a 7-0 lead, you've got all the momentum.''
The right-hander has no decisions and a 2.13 ERA in two starts against the Padres this year.
''We've got our hands full tomorrow against
Derek Lowe
, because he's always tough,'' San Diego left fielder
Dave Roberts
said after Saturday's victory.
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