Padres hand Giants first loss of season

Rondell White's first home run as a member of the Padres broke a 4-4 tie in the seventh. AP

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Rondell White has pleasant memories of playing against the San Francisco Giants. He added another one Tuesday night.

White hit a tiebreaking home run in the seventh inning and the San Diego Padres overcame another homer by Barry Bonds, ending San Francisco's season-opening seven-game winning streak with a 9-4 victory.

"I was looking for a fastball in and I was going to take my chance right there," said White, who has seven hits in his last 18 at-bats after starting the season 0-for-14. "I've been working on my hitting every day, just trying to get back on the ball."

White is a career .335 hitter against the Giants, his top average against any NL team. He's driven in 36 runs against them, matching his best.

White even hit for the cycle against the Giants in 1995 while with the Montreal Expos.

Bonds' solo shot hit halfway up the right-field foul pole in the third inning, his 72nd career homer against the Padres -- his most against any team. It was his third homer of the season.

"That ball gets out of anywhere," said San Diego starter Jake Peavy, who has struggled with a sore ankle in both of his starts this year.

"With no one on, I don't want to say I'm going to challenge him, but I threw a changeup that caught the middle of the plate. I was just trying to stay out of the big inning."

Peavy (2-0) didn't let Bonds do any more damage, intentionally walking him to load the bases in the fifth. Edgardo Alfonzo flied out to end the threat.

Peavy, who has won both of his career starts at Pacific Bell Park, gave up three runs on nine hits in six-plus innings.

The Padres broke it open with four runs against Chad Zerbe in the ninth on a two-run double by Ramon Vazquez, an RBI double by pinch-hitter Brian Buchanan and an RBI single by Wiki Gonzalez.

Jose Cruz Jr. hit his fifth homer of the season and third in two days for the NL champion Giants, who opened 7-0 for their best start since 1930.

White hit the first pitch from Scott Eyre (0-1) well up into the left-field bleachers for his first home run of the year. Gary Bennett added an RBI double later in the seventh as the Padres won in San Francisco for just the fourth time in 21 games.

"Sometimes the hitters can hit anything you throw up there and that was the case tonight," Eyre said.

Giants starter Damian Moss allowed three runs on six hits and five walks in 5 2-3 innings. Acquired from Atlanta for Russ Ortiz in the offseason, Moss has walked 11 in two starts.

"It's very frustrating," he said. "I'm so close to feeling comfortable, but something seems to be holding me back. I'm beating myself in all those situations."

The Giants took a 1-0 lead in the second inning when Benito Santiago singled and J.T. Snow followed with a triple to right-center, the deepest part of the ballpark.

White and Ryan Klesko singled home runs, and Lou Merloni drove in another with a groundout as the Padres took a 3-1 lead in the third.

Moss escaped further damage in the sixth with the help of relief pitcher Joe Nathan and the reversal of a balk call.

After Moss struck out Mark Kotsay with the bases loaded, Nathan was brought in to face Mark Loretta. With the count 1-2, Nathan took a small step backward off the mound and plate umpire Jim Wolf immediately called a balk.

That was reversed, however, after the four umpires huddled on the first base side of the mound. Loretta then flied out to center to end the inning.

The Giants tied it in the sixth when Santiago tripled and Snow singled.

Notes: Snow's triple was just the 14th of his career. It came in his 1,358th major league game. He's never hit more than two in a season. ... Padres 3B Sean Burroughs will miss at least two games because of soreness in his right shoulder. ... Bonds received his 427th intentional walk, 134 more than second-place Hank Aaron on the career list. ... Klesko has driven in a run in each of his last four games. ... Peavy also won in San Francisco last Sept. 15.

 

Related information

Stories

Power Rankings: Giants climb to No. 2 Verducci: Trading young sluggers comes back to haunt many teams

Stats

Padres-Giants Box Score

Multimedia

Visit Video Plus for the latest audio and video