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| Gonzalez, Kouzmanoff homer as Padres top Nationals SAN DIEGO 4, WASHINGTON 2 |
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By Tim Powers PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer SAN DIEGO (Ticker) -- Adrian Gonzalez and Kevin Kouzmanoff blasted back-to-back solo home runs in the seventh inning to lift the San Diego Padres to a 4-2 victory over the Washington Nationals on Tuesday. Gonzalez snapped a 2-2 tie by sending a 1-0 offering from Nationals reliever Charlie Manning (0-1) over the left-center field wall for his 15th blast of the season. Washington then made a pitching change, but it did not help as Kouzmanoff crushed the first pitch he saw from Joel Hanrahan into the left-center field stands to give San Diego a 4-2 lead. "It was a fastball up," Gonzalez said. "Hopefully, we can get a little momentum going. Now I'm anxious to see if we can get something going and we can get excited about it." It was the second set of back-to-back homers in five games for the Padres, who have won four of those contests. Heath Bell (1-3) got the last out of the seventh inning and worked a perfect eighth to notch the victory. All-time saves leader Trevor Hoffman then retired the side in order in the ninth to convert his 10th save of the season and 534th career. "All we need to do is keep winning and try to get back to .500," Bell said. "We don't need to try to turn the whole thing around. The guys never put their heads down, they just go out there and battle." Washington jumped out to an early lead when Aaron Boone hit a two-run homer in the first off San Diego starter Randy Wolf. "After (the home run), he threw good," Padres manager Bud Black said of Wolf. "It was a tough call taking him out there. He had another inning in him, but we wanted to send a hitter up to try and get something going." The Padres answered in the third thanks to three consecutive walks by Washington starter Shawn Hill and a two-run single by Michael Barrett that knotted the score at 2-2. "(Hill) threw the ball well," Nationals manager Manny Acta said. "He struggled a little bit with his command early on. The most important thing was that he felt good when he came out and didn't have any problems." Cristian Guzman collected a pair of doubles for the Nationals, who have lost three of four games. "We started early, swung the bats well, and got two runs," Acta said. "After that, we couldn't do anything. We had our opportunities. If we're not swinging the bats well in those types of situations, that is what happens." |
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