Chicago, IL (SportsNetwork.com) - Tommy Medica went 3-for-5 with two RBI and a
run scored to lead the San Diego Padres in an 8-3 win over the Chicago Cubs on
Wednesday.
Yangervis Solarte, who made his San Diego debut, provided a run-scoring triple
among his two hits and scored twice. Padres starter Ian Kennedy (8-9) grabbed
the win after yielding three runs on three hits and five walks with six
strikeouts over six innings.
Tsuyoshi Wada (0-1) opposed Kennedy, allowing five runs on five hits and four
walks through four-plus innings in the setback.
Luis Valbuena cranked a three-run homer to account for Chicago's offense.
"(Wada) wasn't as effective today," said Cubs manager Rick Renteria. "He was
getting through it, but he was grinding through it."
San Diego raced out of the gate to a 2-0 lead before Chicago could even take
its turn at the plate. Chris Denorfia led off the game with a walk before
Solarte tripled to right to open the scoring. Carlos Quentin followed with a
sacrifice fly to right that staked the visitors to a two-run advantage.
"That was great to see," Padres manager Bud Black said of Solarte's first at-
bat. "He swings the bat from both sides so it was good to get him acclimated."
Jeff Francoeur singled to begin the away fourth and hustled home on Chris
Nelson's double to right. Alexi Amarista reached first on a fielder's choice
as Nelson slid into third just ahead of the tag to put runners at the corners
with one out. Kennedy attempted to help his cause with a safety squeeze, but
Wada made a timely flip to Welington Castillo, who applied the tag on Nelson
for the second out of the frame. Wada worked his way out of the inning with a
strikeout of Denorfia.
Kennedy's first two walks of the night proved to be costly in the home fourth.
Anthony Rizzo walked with one out and Chris Coghlan worked a free pass two
batters later. Valbuena then stepped in and blasted his sixth homer of the
season which tied the game at 3-3.
Wada followed Kennedy's erratic inning with one of his own in the fifth,
walking Solarte and Quentin to begin the frame. Medica followed with a deep
drive to the left-center gap that got stuck in the ivy for a ground-rule
double, allowing Solarte to cross home.
Brian Schlitter, who came on to relieve the Japanese southpaw, immediately
issued a walk to Francoeur that loaded the bases. Schlitter made a nice play
on Nelson's dribbler up the third-base line to get the force at home for the
first out of the inning, but he walked Rene Rivera to push in another run.
Amarista had the opportunity to open the game up, however, he grounded into a
6-4-3 double play.
Kennedy allowed a leadoff double to Castillo in the home fifth before walking
the bases loaded with one out. The right-hander got a huge strikeout of Rizzo,
the NL home run leader, and induced an inning-ending groundout from Starlin
Castro to maintain San Diego's two-run cushion.
Chicago put a pair of runners on in the seventh, however, Kevin Quackenbush
struck out Castro to end the threat.
Amarista walked to lead off the eighth, moved to second on a wild pitch by
Justin Grimm and stole third before Yasmani Grandal drew a base on balls.
Pinch-hitter Seth Smith poked a single to right that scored Amarista, Medica
knocked in Grandal with a base hit and Francoeur added a sacrifice fly to help
the Padres stretch the score to its final margin.
Game Notes
Solarte was acquired from the New York Yankees on Tuesday in the Chase Headley
deal ... Wada made his second career start and first at Wrigley Field ... The
two pitching staffs combined for 17 walks, with Cubs pitchers walking 11 in
the setback.