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MONTREAL (Ticker) --
David Wells
has become the star of the
San Diego Padres
' successful traveling show.
Wells won his sixth consecutive road start and
Ryan Klesko
and rookie
Khalil Greene
each hit two-run homers to lead the
San Diego Padres
to an 11-3 victory over the
Montreal Expos
.
After sweeping a four-game series from the
New York Mets
, the Padres won two of three here and conclude the road trip with three games in St. Louis. San Diego has won 17 of its last 23 road games overall
"We've hit the ball well on the road," Greene said. "At home is where we haven't been swinging the bats well."
The Padres have produced a total of 45 runs in the first seven games of this trip and staked Wells (9-7) to a 3-0 lead in the first inning.
"When you get the lead from the beginning, you just want to throw strikes even moreso than in a 0-0 ballgame," Wells said. "Early runs pretty much dictate the game as long as the pitching goes out and does its job."
Wells pitched seven innings and allowed three runs and eight hits. Once again displaying pinpoint control, the portly lefthander walked one and struck out two. Wells has just 17 walks in 152 innings this season.
His winning streak of consecutive road starts started June 28 at Arizona. On this trip, Wells pitched a season-high 8 2/3 innings and yielded just one run and four hits in a 3-1 victory over the Mets.
"Boomer (Wells) really threw well in New York and here again," Padres manager
Bruce Bochy
said. "He has great command and just let them put the ball in play."
Meanwhile, Montreal starter Sun-woo Kim (3-5) lasted just four innings and surrendered seven runs and nine hits. He is 0-5 in his last 10 starts.
The Padres jumped on Kim for three runs in the first inning. Klesko highlighted it with his sixth homer of the season after a two-out, RBI single by
Phil Nevin
.
Wells helped his own cause with an RBI single in the fourth and also reached safely on an error in the sixth.
"I just want to go out there and put the bat on the ball and try to make something happen," Wells said. "It's not much fun running the bases."
Brian Giles
doubled home a run in a four-run fifth and scored on a fielder's choice. Greene highlighted the inning with his 11th home run of the season off reliever
Joey Eischen
, opening an 8-1 lead.
The Padres added three runs in the eighth inning, two of them scoring on a throwing error by shortstop
Maicer Izturis
. It was the last of a season-high five errors by the Expos.
"Played sloppy and got behind early, that's never a good combination," Expos manager
Frank Robinson
said.
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