| Joe Gutierrez. 30th April, 2006 - 10:52 pm
 The San Diego Padres entered Sunday’s finale carrying a pesky five game losing streak, along with a slumping offense. The ninth inning started with many fans in San Diego coming to their feet, only to exit the stadium. But those who stood behind saw a huge five-run comeback for an eventual 6-5 win, and nearly avoiding the sweep at the same time.
Los Angeles’ Derek Lowe was absolutely magnificent, tossing two-hit baseball through six innings. Lowe has been stellar ever since coming off his nightmare Opening day performance earlier this month, and he was too close to a victory before the collapse of the bullpen. Chan Ho Park allowed one run in the first four innings, but the fifth came as a shock.
Park was an out away from ending the inning, before 1B Nomar Garciaparra drove a single to center that scored SS Rafael Furcal and CF Kenny Lofton. The four-run lead was added to on the next pitch Park delivered to 3B Bill Mueller. The third baseman drilled the first pitch he saw from Park to right field, just hitting the top of the oddly shaped fence for a home run. This capped off the five-run Dodger onslaught, and Lowe cruised from there.
Lowe watched from the dug out in the seventh as Franquelis Osoria took over with the duty of protecting Lowe’s lead. Osoria did just that and secured the eighth inning as well, striking out two Padres. Rather than just go with someone reliable, possibly the “lights out” Takashi Saito, Grady Little went with the shaky Lance Carter to close out the ninth.
Two singles and a walk later, Carter found himself in a bases loaded jam, and a seat back on the bench. Danys Baez gave up a single and a couple walks to score three runs, but all three were charged to Carter. Carter’s inability to find the plate cost Lowe his second win of the year. Padres would score two runs to put it a tie game.
Tim Hamulack was given the loss after the single by 1B Mark Bellhorn to drive in RF Brian Giles for a San Diego victory in the tenth.
Final Score: Dodgers 5, Padres 6
Coming Up
The Dodgers travel to Arizona for just two games starting Monday, as Brad Penny takes the hill against Claudio Vargas
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