Associated Press
Associated Press
LOS ANGELES — Everth Cabrera saw his chance — and took it with an audacious steal of home.
That tied the game and forced a miscue that won it for the San Diego Padres. Will Venable came around when closer Kenley Jansen threw the ball past catcher A.J. Ellis, leading the San Diego Padres to a 7-6 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Saturday night.
“I had my eyes on the play the whole time. It was just a crazy play,” Venable said. “He kept going, so I just went along with him and we ended up stealing one from them.”
Alex Hinshaw (1-1) recorded two outs to get the victory, ending the Padres’ 10-game losing streak at Dodger Stadium. All-Star Huston Street worked a perfect ninth for his 14th save in 14 attempts.
Jansen (4-3) ended up with his fourth blown save opportunity in 20 chances.
Yonder Alonso and Venable sparked the winning rally with consecutive singles, putting runners on the corners with none out. Jansen then struck out Cameron Maybin at the end of a grueling 11-pitch at-bat and retired pinch-hitter Mark Kotsay on a popup after Venable stole second.
Alexi Amarista worked the count to 2-2, and Cabrera saw an opening while Jansen kicked the dirt in front of the rubber a couple of times with his back turned away from third. He dashed for home and a stunned Jansen threw the ball all the way to the screen, allowing the go-ahead run to score.
Plate umpire Greg Gibson immediately called Cabrera out, but changed the call once he noticed Ellis didn’t have the ball.
“It all happened in a flash,” Padres manager Bud Black said. “But that’s Cabby. He’s that type of player. He’s aggressive and fun to watch.”
Ellis had been the one making the alert play to win the game just months before.
On April 15, he started an around-the-horn triple play against the Padres in the ninth inning after Jesus Guzman backed away from a high and tight pitch and the ball hit his bat and landed in front of the plate.
The baserunners stayed put, thinking it was a foul ball — as did Guzman. But plate umpire Dale Scott did not make any gesture that the ball was foul, and Ellis seized the moment. The Dodgers ended up winning that game 5-4 on Dee Gordon’s single in the bottom half.
But on this occasion, Ellis took full responsibility for what happened to the Dodgers and refused to put the blame on Jansen.
“We just got that big second strike on their guy and the crowd got fired up and really loud,” Ellis said. “I had my head down and just made a mistake. I need to be more heads-up and pay more attention. You can never let your guard down. I’ve got to be more responsible there. So that was on me. We were one strike away from winning that game, and you’ve got to be ready for anything.”
Andre Ethier had four RBIs for the Dodgers in his second game off the disabled list, belting a tiebreaking two-run homer and a pair of RBI singles. Aaron Harang allowed four runs, three earned, and four hits over seven innings against his former team.
The Padres tied it at 4 in the sixth when Chase Headley hit his ninth home run.
But the NL West leaders responded in the bottom half against rookie reliever Brad Brach. Matt Kemp reached on a two-out infield single for his fifth hit in eight at-bats since coming off the DL, and Ethier sent his 11th homer to right-center.
Ronald Belisario relieved Harang and yielded a two-out RBI single to Carlos Quentin in the eighth.
Padres starter Edinson Volquez threw 111 pitches over five innings, giving up four runs, eight hits and four walks while striking out six.
Ethier, who leads the Dodgers with 59 RBIs, tied it at 1 in the first with a bloop RBI single. Ethier singled home Bobby Abreu with the bases loaded in the third before Volquez forced in another run with a walk to Juan Rivera. The right-hander, who leads the majors with 67 walks, minimized the damage by retiring his next three batters.
Quentin hit a leadoff homer to center field in the fourth, his eighth this season, but the Dodgers got that run back in the fifth on Adam Kennedy’s RBI double.
Kennedy started at third base in place of Juan Uribe, who is in a 1-for-33 slump and has only five home runs in 401 at-bats with the Dodgers — after hitting a career-high 24 in 2010 with San Francisco.
PHILLIES 8, ROCKIES 5
DENVER — Vance Worley pitched into the seventh inning and hit a two-run double, Carlos Ruiz added a three-run homer, and the Phillies hung on to snap a five-game losing streak.
GIANTS 3, ASTROS 2
SAN FRANCISCO — Hector Sanchez singled in Pablo Sandoval in the bottom of the 12th.
BRAVES 8, METS 7
ATLANTA — Jason Heyward hit a tiebreaking RBI single to cap a three-run rally and the Braves took advantage after the umpires reversed a call for their sixth straight win.
REDS 3, CARDINALS 2 (10)
CINCINNATI — Ryan Ludwick homered in the 10th inning, leading the Reds to their fifth consecutive victory.
CUBS 4, D-BACKS 1
CHICAGO — Ryan Dempster pitched six innings to extend his scoreless streak to 33, matching the Cubs’ franchise record set by Ken Holtzman in 1969.
MARLINS 2, NATIONALS 1
MIAMI — Mark Buehrle pitched seven innings to help Miami snap a three-game slide.
PIRATES 6, BREWERS 4
MILWAUKEE — Andrew McCutchen hit a two-run shot for his fourth homer in the last three games.
O’s top Tigers
BALTIMORE — Taylor Teagarden ended his first game with the Baltimore Orioles in stunning fashion, hitting a two-run homer in the 13th inning that sealed an 8-6 victory over the Detroit Tigers.
MARINERS 7, RANGERS 0
SEATTLE — Felix Hernandez struck out 12 in a three-hitter to best Yu Darvish.
RAYS 5, RED SOX 3
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — David Price outpitched Clay Buchholz and the Rays scored twice in the seventh inning without getting a hit to rally past Boston.
ROYALS 6, WHITE SOX 3
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Alcides Escobar hit a pair of homers off Jake Peavy, the second a go-ahead shot with two outs in the seventh inning.
BLUE JAYS 11, INDIANS 9
TORONTO — Edwin Encarnacion hit two home runs, Yunel Escobar also went deep and the Blue Jays used an eight-run third inning to beat Cleveland.
YANKEES 5, ANGELS 3
NEW YORK — Robinson Cano and Curtis Granderson each hit two-run homers off Jerome Williams.
ATHLETICS 9, TWINS 3
MINNEAPOLIS — Chris Carter and Yoenis Cespedes each homered and drove in three runs.