PADRES NIP M’S IN 10 INNINGS TO SNAP INTERLEAGUE LOSING STREAK

The San Diego Padres’ disastrous run against the Seattle Mariners—and the rest of the American League—is now over.  Kevin Kouzmanoff‘s walkoff single scored Adrian Gonzalez in the bottom of the 10^th inning, as the Padres nipped the M’s 4-3 at Petco Park.  Gonazlez had tied the game in the sixth inning with a solo home run, while Seattle’s Franklin Gutierrez hit two round trippers in the losing cause. 

Heading into Thursday’s game, the Padres’ performance against the ‘Junior Circuit’ was dreadful to say the least.  They had lost 13 straight interleague games, a MLB record.  And it was the Mariners, in particular, that did the most of that damage—before Thursday’s victory the Padres had lost 16 of their last 20 games against Seattle including 10 straight at home.

San Diego won the game as a -115 home favorite, with the 7 combined runs going UNDER the posted total of 8. The series has demonstrated a strong UNDER bias of late, with 9 of the last 15 head to head meetings between the two sides staying UNDER.  Six of the last 9 in the series at San Diego have also gone UNDER, including all three games of this series. Seattle has gone UNDER in 22 of 35 road games this season, and in 10 of their last twelve games overall (10 UN, 1 OV, 1 push).  San Diego has now gone UNDER in 4 straight and 5 of their last seven games. 

After the game, Mariners’ manager Don Wakamatsu said it was simply a case of his team letting the opponent’s most dangerous offensive threat—Adrian Gonalzez—beat them:

"We let him beat us twice today. This is the guy that can do the most damage and we let him hit a home run and double when we are basically trying to pitch around him."

Seattle reliever Chris Jakubauskas was on the hill for Gonzalez’s game tying blast in the sixth inning:

"I wasn't trying to pitch around him. I was trying to make my pitch down and away. It was the wrong time to challenge a guy down the middle. It was middle-middle, and he made me pay for it. That's why he has 23 home runs."

Both team’s starters—Brandon Morrow for the Mariners and Josh Geer for the Padres—pitched reasonably well, but didn’t figure into the decision.  Miguel Batista took the loss for Seattle, while Heath Bell picked up the victory for the Padres.

San Diego hopes that their new found fortunate against the American League continues this weekend as they welcome the Oakland A’s to Petco Park for a three game set.  Wade Leblanc makes his first start for the Padres after being recalled from Triple-A Portland, while Oakland will counter with Josh Outman.  Oakland is a -140 road favorite in Friday’s opening game, with the total set at 7’ UN. Seattle heads home to take on the Arizona Diamondbacks, with Jarrod Washburn hooking up with Jon Garland in the opening game of the series.  Seattle is a -125 home chalk with the total set at 8 UN.