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Sunday, Aug. 6 5:05pm ET
Eaton wins with seven strong innings | |||||
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GAME LOG
SAN DIEGO (AP) -- Despite some strong outings, wins have been tough to come by for San Diego Padres rookie Adam Eaton. Eaton, who left six starts with the lead this year only to end up with no-decisions, departed with an 8-2 advantage after seven innings Sunday. His bullpen was shaky again, giving up four runs in the eighth inning before Trevor Hoffman closed out an 8-6 victory over the Chicago Cubs, the Padres' seventh in eight games. Eaton's luck was typified when Jose Nieves' potential double-play grounder turned into an RBI single when it hit the second-base bag and bounced straight up in the eighth. "After that one hit, it was 8-5, and I went, 'Geez, that's a strange thing to have happen," Eaton said. "(Shortstop Damian Jackson) is right there for a double play, but it hits the bag. It's just bad luck." Eaton (3-2), who gave up seven hits and one walk and struck out three, has won twice in his last four starts after going 0-1 in his previous eight. In that time, he's learned to avoid being nervous on the bench while watching relievers, no matter the circumstances. "When I do a good job, I feel happy about that. And I have confidence that the guys in the bullpen will do their job," Eaton said. "I'm pretty calm. I do want to win, so there's just that anxiety." Hoffman got three outs for his 29th save in 35 chances. Mark Grace went 5-for-5 with his 11th homer, two doubles, two RBI and three runs scored for Chicago. "That was my first 5-for-5 day. That's kind of strange, isn't it?" said Grace, in his 13th major league season. "It's good to enjoy this. This is probably one of my best games ever." Daniel Garibay (2-4), making his second career start, allowed five runs and nine hits in five innings. "We needed some help, so we tried to get a starting opportunity for Daniel," Chicago manager Don Baylor said. "But he just didn't have any rhythm." Wiki Gonzalez was 3-for-4 with two RBI for San Diego, and Mike Darr had a pair of run-scoring doubles. After Sammy Sosa led off with a walk, Grace doubled him home against Todd Erdos in the eighth. Jeff Reed and Jose Nieves had run-scoring singles off Heathcliff Slocumb and Brant Brown added a sacrifice fly, cutting it to 8-6. "Sure, right then you're thinking, `Boy, Eaton pitched his heart out, he had a six-run lead, and now it's getting close again,' " Padres manager Bruce Bochy said. "With a couple of innings to go, you'd like to think that you can hold that. But we had an eight-run lead slip away quickly last week." Eaton was also the starter when the Padres blew a 9-1 lead before edging Philadelphia 10-9 in 10 innings on Tuesday. "Who would have expected the ball to hit the bag?" Jackson said. "It was one of those breaks. But fortunately we battled through it and got the win." Matthews' RBI grounder put Chicago ahead in the second, but San Diego took a 2-1 lead in the bottom half on Gonzalez's RBI infield single and Darr's first double. Darr had another double in the fourth to make it 3-1. Phil Nevin's sacrifice fly and Gonzalez's RBI single increased the lead to 5-1 in the fifth. Grace homered leading off the sixth, but the Padres made it 8-2 in the bottom half against Kyle Farnsworth on Ryan Klesko's two-run single and Nevin's RBI single. Game notesChicago C Joe Girardi broke his nose and took three stitches to close a cut after being hit by Woody Williams' pitch in the ninth inning Saturday. Girardi is expected to be sidelined 2-3 days. ... The Cubs placed RHP Kerry Wood on the 15-day disabled list, retroactive to July 30, because of a muscle strain, and activated OF Rondell White, obtained from Montreal on July 31. White was out with a strained right hamstring. ... The Padres have won six of their last seven games against left-handers. Before that, they were 10-20 this season against lefties. ... Eaton entered with a team-high .368 batting average (7-for-19), but went 0-for-2 with a walk. | ALSO SEE Baseball Scoreboard Chicago Cubs Clubhouse San Diego Clubhouse One down, one up: Cubs place Wood on DL, take White off it
RECAPS Kansas City 3 Boston 1
San Diego 8
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